CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) Reaches New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) shares reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday after BTIG Research raised their price target on the stock from $30.00 to $35.00. BTIG Research currently has a buy rating on the stock. CarGurus traded as high as $31.99 and last traded at $31.96, with a volume of 35574 shares. The stock had previously closed at $31.66.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on CARG. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of CarGurus from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of CarGurus from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. B. Riley upped their target price on shares of CarGurus from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on shares of CarGurus from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of CarGurus from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CarGurus presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $30.59.

Insider Activity

In other news, CMO Dafna Sarnoff sold 3,107 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.42, for a total value of $88,300.94. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 128,952 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,664,815.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CTO Matthew Todd Quinn sold 3,495 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.43, for a total transaction of $102,857.85. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 205,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,053,633.28. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CMO Dafna Sarnoff sold 3,107 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $28.42, for a total transaction of $88,300.94. Following the transaction, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 128,952 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,664,815.84. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 61,065 shares of company stock valued at $1,823,794 over the last ninety days. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CarGurus

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CARG. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in CarGurus by 87.0% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after acquiring an additional 2,568 shares during the period. Scharf Investments LLC bought a new position in CarGurus in the 1st quarter valued at about $203,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in CarGurus by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 295,634 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,823,000 after buying an additional 1,904 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in CarGurus by 18.6% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 95,304 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,200,000 after buying an additional 14,961 shares during the period. Finally, Capstone Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in CarGurus in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,315,000. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CarGurus Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 114.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.56. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $26.07.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported $0.30 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.23 by $0.07. CarGurus had a negative net margin of 5.57% and a positive return on equity of 11.06%. The firm had revenue of $218.69 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $214.85 million. Analysts anticipate that CarGurus, Inc. will post 1.18 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.