Wall Street Zen Upgrades Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) to "Buy"

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen has upgraded Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) from a "hold" to a "buy" rating, signaling increased confidence in the stock's performance.
• Several analysts have varying outlooks on Maplebear; Jefferies raised its price objective to $55, while Benchmark set a higher target of $67.
• Maplebear reported a 11.1% increase in revenue year-over-year, with earnings per share of $0.41 for the last quarter, surpassing analysts' expectations.

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART - Get Free Report) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

Several other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Maplebear from $50.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. BTIG Research decreased their price target on shares of Maplebear from $58.00 to $55.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 16th. Benchmark raised shares of Maplebear from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $67.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 8th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and issued a $42.00 target price (down from $55.00) on shares of Maplebear in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, 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 note on Friday, August 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have assigned a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $55.58.

Maplebear Price Performance

Shares of Maplebear stock opened at $41.50 on Friday. Maplebear has a one year low of $35.14 and a one year high of $53.50. The stock's 50-day moving average is $46.46 and its 200 day moving average is $44.21. The firm has a market cap of $10.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a PEG ratio of 1.39 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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.39 by $0.02. Maplebear had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 13.76%.The business had revenue of $914.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $896.55 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.20 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Maplebear will post 1.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Maplebear

In other Maplebear news, insider Grosvenor L.P. Gcm sold 4,864,272 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $47.75, for a total transaction of $232,268,988.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Fidji Simo sold 66,560 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.01, for a total value of $3,328,665.60. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,965,445 shares in the company, valued at approximately $98,291,904.45. The trade was a 3.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 4,973,562 shares of company stock valued at $237,668,642 over the last 90 days. 26.00% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Maplebear

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CART. Securian Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Maplebear by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,509 shares of the company's stock valued at $566,000 after purchasing an additional 252 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in Maplebear by 9.6% during the second quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,978 shares of the company's stock worth $134,000 after buying an additional 261 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Maplebear by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 11,000 shares of the company's stock worth $498,000 after acquiring an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. CWM LLC increased its stake in Maplebear by 35.1% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,058 shares of the company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of Maplebear by 27.1% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,335 shares of the company's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 63.09% of the company's stock.

About Maplebear

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.

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