Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $17.90.

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen raised Cars.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Cars.com from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Cars.com from $15.00 to $16.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Tuesday.

Cars.com Price Performance

Shares of CARS stock opened at $11.39 on Friday. Cars.com has a twelve month low of $9.56 and a twelve month high of $18.60. The stock has a market cap of $680.94 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.75 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The business’s fifty day moving average is $12.25 and its 200 day moving average is $12.20.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $181.57 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $181.37 million. Cars.com had a return on equity of 18.32% and a net margin of 4.16%.The firm’s revenue was up 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Cars.com will post 1.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cars.com

In other news, CFO Sonia Jain sold 11,400 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $13.45, for a total value of $153,330.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 243,642 shares in the company, valued at $3,276,984.90. The trade was a 4.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Matthew B. Crawford sold 27,358 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.03, for a total value of $329,116.74. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 71,103 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $855,369.09. This represents a 27.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cars.com

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CARS. CWM LLC lifted its holdings in Cars.com by 119.9% during the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 2,305 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Cars.com by 27.7% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 5,898 shares of the company’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 1,279 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Cars.com by 30.0% during the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,025 shares of the company’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in shares of Cars.com by 436.0% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after buying an additional 6,475 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Virtus Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Cars.com during the third quarter valued at approximately $100,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

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.