Wall Street Zen Upgrades Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) to Buy

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

Other analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Robert W. Baird decreased their price target on Maplebear from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 22nd. Benchmark upgraded Maplebear from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $67.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, August 8th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Maplebear from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. Wedbush reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $42.00 target price (down previously from $55.00) on shares of Maplebear in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Maplebear from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $55.58.

Maplebear Stock Performance

NASDAQ:CART opened at $42.24 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $46.34 and its 200 day moving average is $44.27. Maplebear has a fifty-two week low of $35.14 and a fifty-two week high of $53.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $11.13 billion, a PE ratio of 24.42, a PEG ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.22.

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. Maplebear had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 13.76%.The company had revenue of $914.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $896.55 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.20 EPS. Maplebear’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Maplebear will post 1.43 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Morgan Fong sold 4,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.16, for a total transaction of $230,068.80. Following the sale, the general counsel owned 452,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,220,320. This trade represents a 1.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Fidji Simo sold 7,140 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.30, for a total value of $337,722.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 573,807 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,141,071.10. The trade was a 1.23% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,973,562 shares of company stock worth $237,668,642 in the last three months. 26.00% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Maplebear

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CART. Viking Global Investors LP acquired a new stake in Maplebear in the second quarter worth about $169,782,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Maplebear in the second quarter worth about $151,364,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Maplebear by 62.8% in the first quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,368,232 shares of the company’s stock worth $293,919,000 after acquiring an additional 2,841,559 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Maplebear in the second quarter worth about $97,351,000. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its holdings in Maplebear by 93.3% in the second quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,961,838 shares of the company’s stock worth $179,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,911,771 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.09% of the company’s stock.

Maplebear Company Profile

Maplebear Inc, doing business as Instacart, engages in the provision of online grocery shopping services to households in North America. It sells and delivers grocery products, as well as pickup services through a mobile application and website. It also operates virtual convenience stores; and provides software-as-a-service solutions to retailers.