Invesco Ltd. Increases Holdings in Cars.com Inc. $CARS

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Cars.com Inc. by 14.2% during the first quarter, owning 213,603 shares valued at approximately $2.4 million.
• Multiple institutional investors have raised their holdings in Cars.com, with 89.15% of the stock currently owned by institutional investors.
• Analysts have given Cars.com a consensus rating of "Buy" with a target price averaging $17.30, despite its recent quarterly earnings missing expectations.

Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS - Free Report) by 14.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 213,603 shares of the company's stock after purchasing an additional 26,572 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned 0.34% of Cars.com worth $2,407,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CARS. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Cars.com by 624.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,690 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 4,043 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Cars.com by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 398,000 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,485,000 after acquiring an additional 46,562 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Cars.com by 56.4% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 282,874 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,902,000 after acquiring an additional 102,015 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in Cars.com by 46.3% during the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 59,442 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,030,000 after buying an additional 18,799 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Cars.com by 59.2% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 54,798 shares of the company's stock valued at $618,000 after buying an additional 20,376 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.15% of the company's stock.

Cars.com Stock Performance

Cars.com stock traded up $0.70 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $13.64. 581,235 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 897,416. The firm has a market capitalization of $838.29 million, a PE ratio of 22.01 and a beta of 1.78. Cars.com Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $9.56 and a fifty-two week high of $20.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $11.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a current ratio of 1.82.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CARS shares. B. Riley restated a "buy" rating and set a $22.00 price objective (up from $21.00) on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Cars.com from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Cars.com from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and set a $14.00 price target for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen cut Cars.com from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Cars.com from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 26th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Cars.com presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $17.30.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Cars.com news, insider Matthew B. Crawford sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 98,461 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,158,885.97. This trade represents a 13.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 2.39% of the company's stock.

Cars.com 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.