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

CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday after Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on the stock from $25.00 to $27.00. The stock had previously closed at $22.40, but opened at $25.06. Needham & Company LLC currently has a buy rating on the stock. CarGurus shares last traded at $26.47, with a volume of 130,809 shares trading hands.

CARG has been the topic of several other reports. JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price target on shares of CarGurus in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup increased their price objective on CarGurus from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of CarGurus from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of CarGurus from $22.00 to $25.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CarGurus from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, May 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CarGurus presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $27.81.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, General Counsel Javier Esquivel Zamora sold 6,680 shares of CarGurus stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $167,000.00. Following the sale, the general counsel now owns 102,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,553,250. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other CarGurus news, COO Samuel Zales sold 25,168 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.49, for a total value of $666,700.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 488,083 shares in the company, valued at $12,929,318.67. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Javier Esquivel Zamora sold 6,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $167,000.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel now directly owns 102,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,553,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 83,494 shares of company stock valued at $2,119,722 over the last quarter. 17.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in CarGurus in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. CWM LLC boosted its position in shares of CarGurus by 54.1% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,381 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CarGurus by 43.5% in the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,579 shares of the company’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 479 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in CarGurus during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new position in CarGurus during the fourth quarter valued at $65,000. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CarGurus Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $25.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $23.79. The firm has a market cap of $2.72 billion, a PE ratio of 94.54, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.57.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $215.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $217.29 million. CarGurus had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.04%. As a group, equities analysts predict that CarGurus, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current fiscal 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.