Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) Shares Gap Up – Here’s What Happened

Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $176.09, but opened at $180.47. Carvana shares last traded at $189.28, with a volume of 1,083,337 shares trading hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on CVNA. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Carvana from $280.00 to $320.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Stephens reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Carvana in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Carvana from $300.00 to $275.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Carvana from $277.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price target on Carvana from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $262.71.

Carvana Stock Up 7.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $40.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 120.52 and a beta of 3.56. The company has a current ratio of 3.64, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $227.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $214.38.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The company reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $3.55 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.32 billion. Carvana had a return on equity of 36.59% and a net margin of 1.54%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Carvana Co. will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Carvana

In other Carvana news, COO Benjamin E. Huston sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.49, for a total transaction of $8,924,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 196,278 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,033,660.22. This trade represents a 20.30 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Paul W. Breaux sold 1,362 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $270.08, for a total value of $367,848.96. Following the sale, the insider now owns 153,240 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $41,387,059.20. The trade was a 0.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 119,784 shares of company stock worth $27,524,344 over the last three months. Company insiders own 17.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Carvana

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CVNA. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Carvana by 90.8% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 12,361,790 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,152,311,000 after buying an additional 5,882,656 shares during the period. Whale Rock Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Carvana in the 3rd quarter valued at about $162,953,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Carvana in the 4th quarter valued at about $179,364,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Carvana by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 11,425,367 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,323,463,000 after buying an additional 610,234 shares during the period. Finally, Castle Hook Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Carvana in the 4th quarter valued at about $116,020,000. 56.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Carvana

Carvana Co, together with its subsidiaries, operates an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars in the United States. Its platform allows customers to research and identify a vehicle; inspect it using company's 360-degree vehicle imaging technology; obtain financing and warranty coverage; purchase the vehicle; and schedule delivery or pick-up from their desktop or mobile devices.