Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) Shares Gap Up Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $65.00 to $70.00. The stock had previously closed at $69.16, but opened at $71.75. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the stock. Carvana shares last traded at $70.50, with a volume of 823,364 shares trading hands.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on CVNA. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Carvana from an "underperform" rating to a "hold" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Carvana from $32.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, February 26th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Carvana from an "underperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $90.00 in a report on Friday, March 8th. William Blair raised Carvana from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, JMP Securities reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Carvana in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $52.53.

Insider Activity at Carvana

In other news, COO Benjamin E. Huston sold 9,296 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.92, for a total value of $770,824.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 178,885 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,833,144.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Carvana news, major shareholder Ernest C. Garcia II sold 50,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.13, for a total value of $4,006,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 3,312,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $265,430,625. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, COO Benjamin E. Huston sold 9,296 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.92, for a total transaction of $770,824.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 178,885 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,833,144.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 187,883 shares of company stock worth $15,505,178. 17.12% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Carvana

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Carvana in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Carvana by 270.9% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,324 shares of the company's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 967 shares during the period. Hanseatic Management Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Carvana during the third quarter valued at about $34,000. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Carvana by 39.0% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 692 shares of the company's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Carvana by 14,831.6% in the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,511 shares of the company's stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 8,454 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 56.71% of the company's stock.

Carvana Stock Performance

The business has a 50 day moving average price of $74.84 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $52.12. The company has a market cap of $14.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 131.67 and a beta of 3.32.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.00) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.95) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.56 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted ($0.97) earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Carvana Co. will post -3.4 EPS for the current year.

About Carvana

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.