CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) was downgraded by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat reports. They presently have a $34.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $42.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price points to a potential upside of 17.97% from the company’s previous close.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 price target on shares of CarGurus in a report on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer decreased their target price on CarGurus from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $46.00 price target on shares of CarGurus in a report on Monday, December 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CarGurus presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.75.

CarGurus Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ CARG opened at $28.82 on Thursday. CarGurus has a 1-year low of $21.18 and a 1-year high of $41.33. The business’s 50 day moving average is $34.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 160.12, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.52.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CarGurus news, CTO Matthew Todd Quinn sold 4,678 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.78, for a total transaction of $167,378.84. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now owns 195,795 shares in the company, valued at $7,005,545.10. This represents a 2.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Samuel Zales sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total value of $767,200.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 400,025 shares in the company, valued at $15,344,959. This trade represents a 4.76 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 61,888 shares of company stock valued at $2,229,388 over the last three months. 17.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CarGurus

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its position in shares of CarGurus by 168.7% in the 4th quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,524,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,704,000 after purchasing an additional 957,035 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in CarGurus by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 7,145,350 shares of the company’s stock worth $261,091,000 after acquiring an additional 802,602 shares in the last quarter. No Street GP LP purchased a new stake in shares of CarGurus during the fourth quarter worth about $25,578,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CarGurus during the fourth quarter valued at about $19,465,000. Finally, Oberweis Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CarGurus in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $18,270,000. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About CarGurus

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.