Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) Cut to "Hold" at Wall Street Zen

Key Points

• Carvana has been downgraded from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating by Wall Street Zen, as per a research note published on Saturday.
• The company recently reported a quarterly EPS of $1.28, exceeding analyst expectations of $1.09, alongside revenue of $4.84 billion, which was also above consensus estimates.
• Following significant insider sales by CEO Ernest C. Garcia III and major shareholder Ernest C. Garcia II, insiders now own 17.12% of Carvana stock as they sold a total of 3,036,140 shares valued at over $1 billion in the last 90 days.

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Carvana (NYSE:CVNA - Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the company. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Carvana from $340.00 to $500.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Carvana from $365.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 12th. Wedbush raised Carvana to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. JMP Securities upped their target price on Carvana from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Gordon Haskett began coverage on Carvana in a report on Monday, July 14th. They set a "hold" rating and a $329.00 target price for the company. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Carvana presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $383.47.

Carvana Price Performance

Shares of Carvana stock traded down $13.7710 during trading on Friday, hitting $345.7390. The stock had a trading volume of 1,268,586 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,147,265. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 4.00 and a quick ratio of 2.58. The firm has a market cap of $74.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 86.65, a PEG ratio of 1.16 and a beta of 3.57. The business has a fifty day moving average of $338.38 and a two-hundred day moving average of $276.67. Carvana has a fifty-two week low of $124.39 and a fifty-two week high of $413.33.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.19. Carvana had a return on equity of 40.57% and a net margin of 3.46%.The business had revenue of $4.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.05) earnings per share. Carvana's revenue was up 41.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Carvana will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Ernest C. Garcia III sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $346.34, for a total transaction of $3,463,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 536,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $185,790,629.60. The trade was a 1.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder Ernest C. Garcia II sold 95,087 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.09, for a total value of $33,193,920.83. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 34,442,317 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,023,468,441.53. This represents a 0.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 3,036,140 shares of company stock worth $1,056,693,071. 16.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Carvana

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CVNA. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Carvana by 13.9% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,950,011 shares of the company's stock worth $3,125,749,000 after purchasing an additional 1,823,218 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Carvana by 9.7% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,534,843 shares of the company's stock worth $2,620,785,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,476 shares in the last quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Carvana by 1,374.3% in the second quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 901,227 shares of the company's stock worth $303,677,000 after purchasing an additional 840,096 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Carvana in the second quarter worth $259,468,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Carvana during the second quarter worth $193,091,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.71% of the company's stock.

Carvana Company Profile

Carvana Co, together with its subsidiaries, operates an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars in the United States. Its platform allows customers to research and identify a vehicle; inspect it using company's 360-degree vehicle imaging technology; obtain financing and warranty coverage; purchase the vehicle; and schedule delivery or pick-up from their desktop or mobile devices.