CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $31.33, but opened at $29.90. CarGurus shares last traded at $29.78, with a volume of 433,535 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CarGurus from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price target on shares of CarGurus in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of CarGurus from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 24th. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of CarGurus in a research note on Monday, December 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.75.

CarGurus Trading Down 3.0 %

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $34.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $34.27. The company has a market cap of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.52.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last released 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). CarGurus had a return on equity of 27.14% and a net margin of 2.34%. The company had revenue of $228.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.72 million. On average, analysts predict that CarGurus, Inc. will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CarGurus news, CTO Matthew Todd Quinn sold 4,678 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 195,795 shares in the company, valued at $7,005,545.10. This represents a 2.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Samuel Zales sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.78, for a total value of $307,800.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 390,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,004,969.50. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,888 shares of company stock valued at $2,229,388 over the last quarter. 17.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in CarGurus by 168.7% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,524,478 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,704,000 after buying an additional 957,035 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in CarGurus by 12.7% during the 4th 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. No Street GP LP purchased a new stake in CarGurus during the 4th quarter worth about $25,578,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CarGurus in the 4th quarter valued at about $19,465,000. Finally, Oberweis Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CarGurus during the fourth quarter worth about $18,270,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company’s stock.

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.