Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR)

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 12,847 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 240% compared to the average volume of 3,780 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Avis Budget Group from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.71.

Avis Budget Group Stock Up 20.5 %

Shares of CAR opened at $74.16 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $80.00 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.66. The firm has a market cap of $2.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.43 and a beta of 2.37. Avis Budget Group has a 52-week low of $54.03 and a 52-week high of $132.25.

Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The business services provider reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.27. Avis Budget Group had a negative return on equity of 14.74% and a negative net margin of 15.45%. On average, equities analysts expect that Avis Budget Group will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Avis Budget Group news, Director Lynn Krominga sold 1,405 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $133,475.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 1,950 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $185,250. This represents a 41.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 52.00% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Avis Budget Group

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in shares of Avis Budget Group by 30.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 200,576 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $17,571,000 after acquiring an additional 46,922 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Avis Budget Group by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 35,100 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,829,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Avis Budget Group by 2.5% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 672,227 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,880,000 after buying an additional 16,221 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC boosted its position in shares of Avis Budget Group by 123.8% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 22,745 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $1,992,000 after buying an additional 12,580 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Avis Budget Group by 10.5% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 185,801 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $16,274,000 after buying an additional 17,666 shares in the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Avis Budget Group Company Profile

Avis Budget Group, Inc engages in the provision of vehicle sharing and rental services. It operates through the following segments: Americas, International, and Corporate and Other. The Americas segment includes the vehicle rental and car sharing operations in North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.