Pale Fire Capital SE Has $32.13 Million Position in Cars.com Inc. $CARS

Pale Fire Capital SE boosted its position in Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) by 498.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,956,618 shares of the company’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,295,117 shares during the period. Cars.com accounts for about 2.7% of Pale Fire Capital SE’s holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Pale Fire Capital SE owned approximately 7.08% of Cars.com worth $32,128,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Cars.com by 143.4% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 531,486 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,495,000 after purchasing an additional 313,128 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH lifted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 487.0% in the 4th quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 160,315 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,953,000 after purchasing an additional 133,002 shares in the last quarter. Kestrel Investment Management Corp acquired a new stake in Cars.com in the 4th quarter valued at $3,752,000. LSV Asset Management grew its position in Cars.com by 83.3% in the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 191,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,330,000 after purchasing an additional 86,800 shares during the period. Finally, Breach Inlet Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Cars.com during the 4th quarter valued at $8,899,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Sonia Jain sold 34,021 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.49, for a total value of $322,859.29. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 312,833 shares in the company, valued at $2,968,785.17. This represents a 9.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Cars.com Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Cars.com stock opened at $11.45 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $10.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $10.33. Cars.com Inc. has a 12-month low of $7.40 and a 12-month high of $13.97. The company has a market capitalization of $640.15 million, a P/E ratio of 26.63 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.98.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.48 by ($0.03). Cars.com had a net margin of 3.73% and a return on equity of 18.12%. The company had revenue of $180.22 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.16 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.37 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Cars.com Inc. will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on CARS. BTIG Research upped their price objective on shares of Cars.com from $13.00 to $14.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 7th. B. Riley Financial cut shares of Cars.com from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cars.com from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Cars.com from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Cars.com from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Cars.com has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $14.67.

About Cars.com

Cars.com operates as a leading online automotive marketplace in the United States, connecting car shoppers with new and used vehicle listings from dealerships and private sellers. The platform enables consumers to research makes and models, compare prices, read expert and user reviews, and access tools such as TrueCost to estimate ownership expenses over time. Through its website and mobile applications, Cars.com aims to simplify the car-buying process by aggregating detailed vehicle data, payment calculators, and dealership ratings into a single user-friendly experience.

On the dealer side, Cars.com provides a suite of marketing and lead-generation services designed to help automotive retailers reach potential buyers and manage their online presence.