CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) Downgraded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. to “Neutral”

JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $34.00 target price on the stock, down from their prior target price of $42.00.

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

CarGurus Price Performance

NASDAQ CARG opened at $28.82 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $34.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.32. CarGurus has a 52-week low of $21.18 and a 52-week high of $41.33. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 160.12, a P/E/G 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $228.54 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $231.72 million. CarGurus had a return on equity of 27.14% and a net margin of 2.34%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CarGurus will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Zachary Emerson Hallowell sold 2,203 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.12, for a total transaction of $83,978.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,983 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,421,271.96. This represents a 1.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Samuel Zales sold 20,000 shares of CarGurus stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.36, for a total value of $767,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 400,025 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,344,959. The trade was a 4.76 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 61,888 shares of company stock valued at $2,229,388 in the last 90 days. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CarGurus

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CarGurus by 46.6% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 23,248 shares of the company’s stock worth $698,000 after purchasing an additional 7,393 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CarGurus in the 3rd quarter valued at about $673,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CarGurus by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,043,217 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,328,000 after acquiring an additional 89,815 shares during the last quarter. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in shares of CarGurus by 31.0% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 165,918 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,983,000 after acquiring an additional 39,240 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in CarGurus during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $735,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.