CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Key Points

• CarGurus has been upgraded by Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating, reflecting improved analyst sentiment towards the stock.
• Shares of CarGurus currently trade around $35.50, with analysts offering a variety of price targets, including a raise to $44.00 from Needham & Company.
• Insider selling has been noted, with significant sales from executives, indicating a potential decrease in ownership stakes among insiders.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of CarGurus from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 2nd. BTIG Research reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $39.00 price target on shares of CarGurus in a report on Friday, September 5th. Needham & Company LLC raised their target price on shares of CarGurus from $39.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 8th. Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of CarGurus from $42.00 to $40.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $38.79.

CarGurus Price Performance

Shares of CARG stock opened at $35.50 on Monday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $34.65 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.86, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.52. CarGurus has a 1 year low of $24.65 and a 1 year high of $41.33.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.57 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.54 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $234.03 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $232.29 million. CarGurus had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 36.23%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 7.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.41 EPS. CarGurus has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 0.500-0.580 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that CarGurus will post 1.41 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Ismail Elshareef sold 1,325 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total value of $46,375.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 104,322 shares in the company, valued at $3,651,270. This represents a 1.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, General Counsel Javier Zamora sold 6,154 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $35.00, for a total transaction of $215,390.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel owned 92,807 shares in the company, valued at $3,248,245. The trade was a 6.22% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,210 shares of company stock valued at $1,388,736. Corporate insiders own 17.20% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of CarGurus

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of CarGurus by 340.5% during the first quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,606,869 shares of the company's stock valued at $46,808,000 after acquiring an additional 1,242,076 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CarGurus by 547.9% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,398,341 shares of the company's stock valued at $40,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,182,499 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of CarGurus by 12.7% in the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 8,052,180 shares of the company's stock valued at $234,560,000 after purchasing an additional 906,830 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of CarGurus by 1,641.2% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 878,556 shares of the company's stock valued at $25,363,000 after purchasing an additional 828,099 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of CarGurus in the first quarter valued at approximately $21,884,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.90% of the company's stock.

CarGurus Company Profile

CarGurus, Inc operates an online automotive platform for buying and selling vehicles in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, U.S. Marketplace and Digital Wholesale. The company provides an online automotive marketplace where customers can search for new and used car listings from its dealers and sell their car to dealers and other consumers; and paid listings subscriptions for enhanced access to its marketplace that connects dealers to a large audience of informed and engaged consumers.

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