Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) Shares Gap Up on Analyst Upgrade

Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $65.00 to $70.00. The stock had previously closed at $69.16, but opened at $71.75. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Carvana shares last traded at $70.50, with a volume of 823,364 shares changing hands.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Carvana from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Carvana in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Carvana from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Carvana from $32.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Finally, William Blair upgraded Carvana from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $52.53.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Ernest C. Garcia III sold 9,390 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.83, for a total value of $777,773.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 861,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,354,566.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Ernest C. Garcia III sold 9,390 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.83, for a total value of $777,773.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 861,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,354,566.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Mark W. Jenkins sold 55,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.76, for a total value of $4,771,800.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 178,156 shares in the company, valued at $15,456,814.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 187,883 shares of company stock valued at $15,505,178. Company insiders own 17.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Carvana

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Blue Trust Inc. acquired a new stake in Carvana in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Carvana by 0.7% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,367,976 shares of the company’s stock valued at $393,268,000 after purchasing an additional 62,820 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in Carvana in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,879,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Carvana by 56.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 778,561 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,684,000 after purchasing an additional 280,851 shares during the period. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc acquired a new stake in Carvana in the third quarter valued at approximately $22,906,000. 56.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Carvana Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $74.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $51.99. The company has a market capitalization of $14.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 134.84 and a beta of 3.32.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.00) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.95) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. Carvana’s quarterly revenue was down 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.97) EPS. Research analysts predict that Carvana Co. will post -3.4 EPS for the current year.

About Carvana

Carvana Co, together with its subsidiaries, operates an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars in the United States. Its platform allows customers to research and identify a vehicle; inspect it using company's 360-degree vehicle imaging technology; obtain financing and warranty coverage; purchase the vehicle; and schedule delivery or pick-up from their desktop or mobile devices.