CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) Short Interest Update

CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 5,320,000 shares, a decline of 5.8% from the January 15th total of 5,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 719,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 7.4 days. Currently, 6.4% of the company’s stock are short sold.

CarGurus Price Performance

CARG stock opened at $38.14 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $33.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of -82.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.59. CarGurus has a 12 month low of $21.18 and a 12 month high of $41.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CMO Dafna Sarnoff sold 10,570 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.78, for a total value of $378,194.60. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 95,261 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,408,438.58. The trade was a 9.99 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Samuel Zales sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total transaction of $767,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 400,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,344,959. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 59,388 shares of company stock worth $2,204,338. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CarGurus

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CARG. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of CarGurus by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,298,894 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,066,000 after buying an additional 151,862 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CarGurus by 9.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,043,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,328,000 after buying an additional 89,815 shares during the period. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of CarGurus during the third quarter valued at approximately $503,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CarGurus by 51.9% during the third quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 64,417 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,934,000 after buying an additional 22,004 shares during the period. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of CarGurus during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $767,000. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. DA Davidson upped their target price on shares of CarGurus from $26.50 to $38.50 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of CarGurus from $39.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 16th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 target price on shares of CarGurus in a report on Monday, December 16th. Citigroup raised shares of CarGurus from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of CarGurus from $32.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.41.

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.