Zacks Research Upgrades Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) to Hold

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. B. Riley Financial downgraded shares of Cars.com from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Friday, May 8th. DA Davidson reissued a “buy” rating and set a $13.00 price target on shares of Cars.com in a report on Monday, April 13th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Cars.com from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Cars.com from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Cars.com from $10.00 to $11.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Cars.com has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $14.83.

Cars.com Stock Up 1.3%

Cars.com stock opened at $12.01 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $11.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $10.31. Cars.com has a twelve month low of $7.40 and a twelve month high of $13.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $642.90 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51. Cars.com had a return on equity of 18.82% and a net margin of 4.73%.The business had revenue of $179.93 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $180.53 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.41 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Cars.com will post 1.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cars.com

In other Cars.com news, CFO Sonia Jain sold 34,021 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $9.49, for a total transaction of $322,859.29. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 312,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,968,785.17. The trade was a 9.81% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Cars.com

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pale Fire Capital SE grew its position in Cars.com by 498.1% during the first quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 3,956,618 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,128,000 after buying an additional 3,295,117 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Cars.com by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,401,523 shares of the company’s stock valued at $27,620,000 after acquiring an additional 262,443 shares during the period. Par Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Cars.com by 31.0% during the 4th quarter. Par Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,697,648 shares of the company’s stock valued at $32,911,000 after acquiring an additional 639,000 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Cars.com by 112.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,127,095 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,751,000 after acquiring an additional 595,609 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Cars.com by 23.1% during the 3rd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 1,057,322 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,920,000 after acquiring an additional 198,077 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

About Cars.com

Cars.com operates as a leading online automotive marketplace in the United States, connecting car shoppers with new and used vehicle listings from dealerships and private sellers. The platform enables consumers to research makes and models, compare prices, read expert and user reviews, and access tools such as TrueCost to estimate ownership expenses over time. Through its website and mobile applications, Cars.com aims to simplify the car-buying process by aggregating detailed vehicle data, payment calculators, and dealership ratings into a single user-friendly experience.

On the dealer side, Cars.com provides a suite of marketing and lead-generation services designed to help automotive retailers reach potential buyers and manage their online presence.