Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. Invests $7.55 Million in Maplebear Inc. $CART

Key Points

• Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. has purchased 189,248 shares of Maplebear Inc. (NASDAQ:CART), valued at approximately $7.5 million, marking a new position for the institutional investor.
• Multiple brokerages have increased their target prices for Maplebear, with Barclays raising it to $65 and Benchmark upgrading it to $67, reflecting strong market confidence in the company.
• Insider sales have been significant, with Grosvenor L.P. selling over 4.8 million shares for approximately $232 million in a recent transaction, indicating notable activity among company insiders.

Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. purchased a new position in Maplebear Inc. (NASDAQ:CART - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 189,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,549,000. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. owned 0.07% of Maplebear as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Maplebear by 3.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 16,514,830 shares of the company's stock valued at $658,777,000 after buying an additional 546,472 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Maplebear by 62.8% during the 1st quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,368,232 shares of the company's stock valued at $293,919,000 after buying an additional 2,841,559 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Maplebear by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,226,979 shares of the company's stock valued at $208,505,000 after buying an additional 482,327 shares during the last quarter. Altimeter Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of Maplebear by 31.9% during the 1st quarter. Altimeter Capital Management LP now owns 3,348,128 shares of the company's stock valued at $133,557,000 after buying an additional 810,510 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Maplebear by 85.0% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 3,081,847 shares of the company's stock valued at $127,650,000 after buying an additional 1,416,426 shares during the last quarter. 63.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on CART shares. Needham & Company LLC increased their target price on Maplebear from $56.00 to $66.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 8th. JMP Securities upped their price target on Maplebear from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a "market outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Maplebear from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. Wedbush reissued an "underperform" rating and set a $42.00 price target (down from $55.00) on shares of Maplebear in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price target on Maplebear from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Maplebear presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $55.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Maplebear news, CEO Fidji Simo sold 6,640 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.00, for a total value of $332,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,958,805 shares of the company's stock, valued at $97,940,250. This trade represents a 0.34% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Grosvenor L.P. Gcm sold 4,864,272 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.75, for a total value of $232,268,988.00. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 4,971,102 shares of company stock valued at $237,536,372 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 26.00% of the company's stock.

Maplebear Stock Down 0.8%

NASDAQ CART traded down $0.37 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $46.63. The company had a trading volume of 2,376,777 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,349,229. Maplebear Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $35.14 and a fifty-two week high of $53.50. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $44.06. The firm has a market cap of $12.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.21.

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.02. Maplebear had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 13.76%.The firm had revenue of $914.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $896.55 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.20 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Maplebear Inc. will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Maplebear Profile

Maplebear Inc, doing business as Instacart, engages in the provision of online grocery shopping services to households in North America. It sells and delivers grocery products, as well as pickup services through a mobile application and website. It also operates virtual convenience stores; and provides software-as-a-service solutions to retailers.