Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Trading 5.7% Higher – Here’s What Happened

Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) shares rose 5.7% on Monday . The company traded as high as $8.76 and last traded at $8.7750. Approximately 136,281 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 1,315,520 shares. The stock had previously closed at $8.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CARS has been the subject of several research reports. BTIG Research reduced their price objective on Cars.com from $17.00 to $13.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, February 26th. Weiss Ratings cut Cars.com from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $10.00 price target (down from $16.00) on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Cars.com from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 14th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $16.08.

Cars.com Trading Up 6.5%

The firm has a market cap of $518.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.67 and a beta of 1.46. The business has a 50 day moving average of $9.54 and a 200 day moving average of $11.03. The company has a quick ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.12). Cars.com had a net margin of 2.77% and a return on equity of 17.31%. The firm had revenue of $183.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $183.44 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.49 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Cars.com Inc. will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Cars.com

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jackson Creek Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Cars.com during the 3rd quarter worth $1,673,000. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC grew its position in shares of Cars.com by 36.7% in the third quarter. Villanova Investment Management Co LLC now owns 367,070 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,486,000 after purchasing an additional 98,559 shares during the period. Intrinsic Edge Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Cars.com in the second quarter valued at $5,210,000. SG Americas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Cars.com during the third quarter worth about $2,496,000. Finally, Hill Path Capital LP boosted its stake in Cars.com by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hill Path Capital LP now owns 2,481,032 shares of the company’s stock worth $30,318,000 after buying an additional 468,000 shares during 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.