Royal Bank of Canada Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG)

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by equities researchers at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $42.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 28.09% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CARG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CarGurus from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $42.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, March 27th. JMP Securities lowered their price objective on CarGurus from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “market outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on CarGurus from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on CarGurus from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on CarGurus from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $36.95.

CarGurus Price Performance

Shares of CARG traded up $1.71 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $32.79. 337,517 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 869,757. The company has a market cap of $3.42 billion, a PE ratio of 182.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.45. CarGurus has a 52 week low of $21.65 and a 52 week high of $41.33. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.74.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $228.54 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.72 million. CarGurus had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 27.14%. On average, analysts anticipate that CarGurus will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CarGurus

In other news, CEO Zachary Emerson Hallowell sold 1,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.73, for a total transaction of $48,755.52. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 129,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,469,286.70. This represents a 1.39% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Samuel Zales sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 390,025 shares in the company, valued at $12,004,969.50. This represents a 2.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 31,824 shares of company stock valued at $907,856. 16.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CARG. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of CarGurus by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 42,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,553,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in CarGurus by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Summit Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 9,075 shares of the company’s stock worth $332,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in CarGurus by 82.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 937 shares of the company’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of CarGurus by 100.0% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of CarGurus by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $281,000 after buying an additional 475 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.