Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) Shares Gap Up to $79.13

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $79.13, but opened at $81.33. Avis Budget Group shares last traded at $80.32, with a volume of 10,882 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CAR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Avis Budget Group from $205.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on shares of Avis Budget Group from $120.00 to $105.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 8th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Avis Budget Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 14th. Susquehanna reduced their target price on shares of Avis Budget Group from $120.00 to $95.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on shares of Avis Budget Group from $155.00 to $146.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $143.29.

Avis Budget Group Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $88.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.03 billion, a PE ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 2.14.

Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 5th. The business services provider reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.60 by ($2.19). The business had revenue of $3.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.13 billion. Avis Budget Group had a net margin of 6.58% and a negative return on equity of 230.71%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $11.01 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Avis Budget Group, Inc. will post 7.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Avis Budget Group

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Avis Budget Group during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $19,978,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Avis Budget Group by 70,663.6% in the first quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 7,784 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $954,000 after buying an additional 7,773 shares in the last quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Avis Budget Group during the first quarter valued at $1,069,000. Gabelli Funds LLC purchased a new position in Avis Budget Group during the first quarter worth about $1,898,000. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Avis Budget Group during the fourth quarter worth about $30,234,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

About Avis Budget Group

Avis Budget Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides car and truck rentals, car sharing, and ancillary products and services to businesses and consumers in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It operates the Avis brand, that offers vehicle rental and other mobility solutions to the premium commercial and leisure segments of the travel industry; and the Zipcar brand, a car sharing network, as well as the Budget brand, a supplier of vehicle rental and other mobility solutions focused primarily on more value-conscious customers comprising Budget car rental, and Budget Truck, a local, and one-way truck and cargo van rental businesses with a fleet of approximately 19,000 vehicles, which are rented through a network of dealer-operated and company-operated locations that serve the light commercial and consumer sectors in the continental United States.