CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $29.00 to $33.00. The stock had previously closed at $27.95, but opened at $31.67. UBS Group currently has a neutral rating on the stock. CarGurus shares last traded at $31.29, with a volume of 224,693 shares changing hands.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CARG. Oppenheimer cut their price target on CarGurus from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 24th. JMP Securities reduced their target price on shares of CarGurus from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of CarGurus from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $34.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.95.

Insider Transactions at CarGurus

In related news, CEO Zachary Emerson Hallowell sold 1,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.73, for a total transaction of $48,755.52. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at $3,469,286.70. This represents a 1.39 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Samuel Zales sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.84, for a total transaction of $268,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 503,382 shares in the company, valued at $13,510,772.88. This represents a 1.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 31,824 shares of company stock worth $907,856. Company insiders own 16.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CarGurus

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of CarGurus in the 1st quarter worth approximately $207,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CarGurus by 1.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,780,608 shares of the company’s stock worth $284,909,000 after purchasing an additional 93,722 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in CarGurus during the first quarter worth $468,000. Alberta Investment Management Corp bought a new stake in CarGurus in the 1st quarter valued at $1,806,000. Finally, US Bancorp DE raised its stake in shares of CarGurus by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 3,733 shares of the company’s stock valued at $109,000 after buying an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CarGurus Trading Up 10.8 %

The business’s fifty day moving average price is $28.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $33.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 172.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.45.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.06). CarGurus had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 27.14%. The company had revenue of $228.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.72 million. Equities research analysts anticipate that CarGurus, Inc. will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

About CarGurus

CarGurus, Inc operates an online automotive platform for buying and selling vehicles in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, U.S. Marketplace and Digital Wholesale. The company provides an online automotive marketplace where customers can search for new and used car listings from its dealers and sell their car to dealers and other consumers; and paid listings subscriptions for enhanced access to its marketplace that connects dealers to a large audience of informed and engaged consumers.