CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating restated by Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price suggests a potential upside of 19.71% from the stock’s current price.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on CARG. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of CarGurus in a research note on Monday, December 16th. DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of CarGurus from $26.50 to $38.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CarGurus from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Citigroup raised shares of CarGurus from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, B. Riley boosted their price target on shares of CarGurus from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.41.

CarGurus Trading Down 1.4 %

CARG opened at $37.59 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 billion, a P/E ratio of -81.72, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.59. CarGurus has a 12 month low of $21.18 and a 12 month high of $41.33. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $37.94 and a 200 day moving average of $33.60.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.06). CarGurus had a negative net margin of 5.47% and a positive return on equity of 13.96%. On average, research analysts forecast that CarGurus will post 1.25 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Samuel Zales sold 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $37.70, for a total transaction of $282,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 434,821 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,392,751.70. The trade was a 1.70 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Zachary Emerson Hallowell sold 2,203 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total transaction of $83,978.36. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,983 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,271.96. This trade represents a 1.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 59,388 shares of company stock valued at $2,204,338. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CarGurus

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CARG. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in CarGurus by 152.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 25,391 shares of the company’s stock valued at $762,000 after purchasing an additional 15,328 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in CarGurus by 81.3% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 959 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares in the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in CarGurus by 5.0% in the third quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,157 shares of the company’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 584 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in CarGurus by 629.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 372,379 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,183,000 after purchasing an additional 321,318 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Louisiana State Employees Retirement System boosted its holdings in CarGurus by 6.8% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 42,200 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,267,000 after purchasing an additional 2,700 shares in the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CarGurus Company Profile

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.