Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Cars.com Inc. has received a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from six covering brokerages, with an average 12-month target price of $17.30.
• The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the last quarter, which was below analysts' expectations, and its revenue was down 0.1% year-over-year.
• Recent insider activity includes the sale of 15,000 shares by Matthew B. Crawford, reducing his ownership in the company by 13.22%.

Shares of Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Buy" by the six brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $17.30.

CARS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barrington Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Zacks Research raised Cars.com from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Cars.com from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $14.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. B. Riley reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $22.00 target price (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Cars.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd.

Cars.com Stock Performance

CARS stock opened at $12.26 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $752.95 million, a P/E ratio of 19.77 and a beta of 1.78. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $12.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $11.88. Cars.com has a fifty-two week low of $9.56 and a fifty-two week high of $20.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $178.74 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $179.43 million. Cars.com had a net margin of 5.71% and a return on equity of 17.43%. Cars.com's revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.38 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Cars.com will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Cars.com

In related news, insider Matthew B. Crawford sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.77, for a total value of $176,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 98,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,158,885.97. This represents a 13.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.39% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Cars.com

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CARS. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 119.9% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,227 shares of the company's stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 2,305 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 624.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,690 shares of the company's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 4,043 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 22.9% during the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,425 shares of the company's stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 30.0% during the second 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. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings 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 worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.15% of the company's stock.

Cars.com Company Profile

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.

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