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

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by stock analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $45.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective points to a potential upside of 44.46% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on CARG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of CarGurus from $32.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $46.00 price target on shares of CarGurus in a report on Monday, December 16th. B. Riley increased their price target on shares of CarGurus from $30.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Citigroup upgraded shares of CarGurus from a “hold” rating to a “strong-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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.59.

CarGurus Stock Performance

Shares of CARG opened at $31.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 173.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.59. CarGurus has a fifty-two week low of $21.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.33. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.75.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $228.54 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $231.72 million. CarGurus had a return on equity of 27.14% and a net margin of 2.34%. Equities research analysts predict that CarGurus will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at CarGurus

In other CarGurus news, CEO Zachary Emerson Hallowell sold 4,580 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.78, for a total value of $163,872.40. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 120,051 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,295,424.78. This trade represents a 3.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CTO Matthew Todd Quinn sold 4,678 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.78, for a total transaction of $167,378.84. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 195,795 shares in the company, valued at $7,005,545.10. The trade was a 2.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 59,388 shares of company stock worth $2,204,338 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 17.20% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CarGurus

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CARG. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its stake in shares of CarGurus by 168.7% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,524,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,704,000 after purchasing an additional 957,035 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of CarGurus by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,145,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,091,000 after purchasing an additional 802,602 shares in the last quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P purchased a new stake in shares of CarGurus in the third quarter worth $21,052,000. No Street GP LP purchased a new stake in shares of CarGurus in the fourth quarter worth $25,578,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CarGurus in the fourth quarter worth $19,465,000. 86.90% of the stock is 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.