Citigroup Boosts CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) Price Target to $27.00

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) had its price objective upped by equities researchers at Citigroup from $24.00 to $27.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup’s target price points to a potential upside of 10.97% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CARG. UBS Group raised their target price on CarGurus from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 15th. JMP Securities upgraded CarGurus from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on CarGurus from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 10th. DA Davidson increased their price target on shares of CarGurus from $22.00 to $25.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.41.

CarGurus Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CARG traded down $1.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $24.33. 1,339,342 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 943,658. The company’s fifty day moving average is $24.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $23.56. CarGurus has a fifty-two week low of $16.70 and a fifty-two week high of $26.90. The stock has a market cap of $2.53 billion, a PE ratio of 86.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.57.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.19 by $0.03. CarGurus had a net margin of 4.04% and a return on equity of 8.80%. The firm had revenue of $215.80 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $217.29 million. Research analysts forecast that CarGurus will post 0.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at CarGurus

In related news, COO Samuel Zales sold 17,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $21.42, for a total value of $378,448.56. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 548,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,756,259.90. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, COO Samuel Zales sold 17,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.42, for a total value of $378,448.56. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 548,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,756,259.90. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, General Counsel Javier Esquivel Zamora sold 6,680 shares of CarGurus stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $167,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 102,130 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,553,250. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 72,016 shares of company stock worth $1,732,378 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in CarGurus during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in CarGurus in the 3rd quarter worth $342,000. Gotham Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in CarGurus by 164.9% in the third quarter. Gotham Asset Management LLC now owns 100,121 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,754,000 after purchasing an additional 62,319 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its position in CarGurus by 81.3% during the third quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 19,398 shares of the company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 8,699 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new position in shares of CarGurus during the third quarter valued at about $190,000. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.