Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Receives $17.90 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $17.90.

CARS has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Cars.com from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Cars.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Cars.com from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. B. Riley reissued a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 price target (up from $21.00) on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Cars.com from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th.

Insider Transactions at Cars.com

In related news, insider Matthew B. Crawford sold 15,000 shares of Cars.com stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.77, for a total transaction of $176,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 98,461 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,158,885.97. This trade represents a 13.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.39% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Cars.com by 2.0% in the second quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 41,069 shares of the company’s stock worth $487,000 after buying an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 22.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 27.7% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,898 shares of the company’s stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 1,279 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue raised its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 4.4% during the second quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 34,468 shares of the company’s stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 1,466 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 30.0% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

Cars.com Price Performance

Shares of Cars.com stock opened at $11.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $694.58 million, a PE ratio of 18.23 and a beta of 1.76. Cars.com has a 12-month low of $9.56 and a 12-month high of $20.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $11.86.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $178.74 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.43 million. Cars.com had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 5.71%.Cars.com’s revenue was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.38 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Cars.com will post 1.19 EPS for the current year.

About Cars.com

Cars.com Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a digital automotive marketplace that connects local car dealers to consumers in the United States. The company offers a suite of digital solutions that creates connections between individuals researching cars or looking to purchase a car with car dealerships and automotive original equipment manufacturers.