Man Group plc Acquires Shares of 54,368 Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS)

Man Group plc acquired a new stake in Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 54,368 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $942,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,121,007 shares of the company’s stock valued at $123,407,000 after purchasing an additional 115,083 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 3,178,426 shares of the company’s stock valued at $55,021,000 after purchasing an additional 655,518 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,172,706 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,984,000 after purchasing an additional 55,143 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 2,559,142 shares of the company’s stock valued at $44,350,000 after purchasing an additional 65,210 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 3.8% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,851 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,468,000 after purchasing an additional 30,368 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Cars.com from $17.00 to $14.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 27th. DA Davidson dropped their target price on Cars.com from $21.00 to $14.50 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of Cars.com in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group dropped their target price on Cars.com from $13.00 to $12.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 9th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $18.30.

Cars.com Stock Performance

Shares of Cars.com stock opened at $10.05 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $11.28 and its 200 day simple moving average is $15.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $638.65 million, a P/E ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 1.95. Cars.com Inc. has a 12 month low of $9.56 and a 12 month high of $21.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The company reported $0.37 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.39 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $179.02 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $179.82 million. Cars.com had a return on equity of 9.99% and a net margin of 5.46%. The business’s revenue was down .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.43 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Cars.com Inc. will post 1.19 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cars.com news, CEO Thomas Alex Vetter purchased 27,870 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 9th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $10.75 per share, for a total transaction of $299,602.50. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 844,897 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,082,642.75. The trade was a 3.41% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 2.39% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Cars.com

Cars.com Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a digital automotive marketplace that connects local car dealers to consumers in the United States. The company offers a suite of digital solutions that creates connections between individuals researching cars or looking to purchase a car with car dealerships and automotive original equipment manufacturers.