Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,780,000 shares, an increase of 34.5% from the February 13th total of 2,810,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 693,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 5.4 days. Currently, 11.1% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling at Avis Budget Group

In other news, Director Lynn Krominga sold 661 shares of Avis Budget Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $62,795.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,355 shares in the company, valued at $318,725. This trade represents a 16.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 52.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Avis Budget Group by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 3,354,546 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $293,825,000 after purchasing an additional 129,805 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 16,221 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of Avis Budget Group by 0.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 592,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $51,883,000 after purchasing an additional 2,561 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Avis Budget Group by 93.2% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 490,473 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $39,537,000 after purchasing an additional 236,576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JAT Capital Mgmt LP increased its holdings in shares of Avis Budget Group by 24.5% in the 3rd quarter. JAT Capital Mgmt LP now owns 398,170 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $34,876,000 after purchasing an additional 78,383 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CAR shares. Northcoast Research cut shares of Avis Budget Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Avis Budget Group from $85.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 10th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.75.

Avis Budget Group Stock Up 11.6 %

Shares of CAR traded up $6.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $61.95. 2,109,710 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 830,063. The company has a market cap of $2.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.20 and a beta of 2.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.72. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.50) by $0.27. Avis Budget Group had a negative net margin of 15.45% and a negative return on equity of 14.74%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Avis Budget Group will post 8.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Avis Budget Group

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.