Analysts Set Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) PT at $14.83

Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.8333.

CARS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $14.00 price target on shares of Cars.com in a report on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research upgraded Cars.com from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Cars.com from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Cars.com from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th.

Cars.com Price Performance

CARS stock opened at $11.80 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $11.84 and a 200-day moving average of $10.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. Cars.com has a 12 month low of $7.40 and a 12 month high of $13.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $631.92 million, a P/E ratio of 20.71 and a beta of 1.59.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.51. Cars.com had a net margin of 4.73% and a return on equity of 18.82%. The company had revenue of $179.93 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. Cars.com’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Cars.com will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other Cars.com news, Director Jr. Donald A. Mcgovern sold 8,000 shares of Cars.com stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $12.25, for a total transaction of $98,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 102,900 shares in the company, valued at $1,260,525. The trade was a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Angelique Marks sold 57,980 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.94, for a total transaction of $692,281.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 149,636 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,786,653.84. This represents a 27.93% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 3.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cars.com

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CARS. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in Cars.com by 77.9% in the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 580,189 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,711,000 after acquiring an additional 253,991 shares during the last quarter. Globeflex Capital L P bought a new position in shares of Cars.com during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,345,000. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Cars.com during the 1st quarter valued at about $1,055,000. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 83.3% during the 4th quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 191,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,330,000 after buying an additional 86,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Cars.com by 47.0% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 308,255 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,503,000 after buying an additional 98,499 shares in the last quarter. 89.15% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Cars.com Company Profile

Cars.com Inc (NYSE:CARS) operates a digital automotive marketplace that connects consumers with automobile dealers and manufacturers. Its platform helps shoppers research vehicles, compare listings, read reviews, explore pricing and incentives, and connect with dealerships when they are ready to buy or sell a vehicle.

The company provides automotive retailers with digital marketing and technology solutions designed to help them attract and engage customers. Its offerings include vehicle listings, dealer websites, digital retailing tools, customer relationship and lead-management services, reputation management, and advertising solutions.