Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) Hits New 1-Year High Following Analyst Upgrade

Maplebear Inc. (NASDAQ:CART) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday after Argus raised their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $58.00. Argus currently has a buy rating on the stock. Maplebear traded as high as $52.68 and last traded at $52.37, with a volume of 249095 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $51.53.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on CART. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Maplebear from $55.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Maplebear in a report on Friday, August 7th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of Maplebear in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Maplebear from $47.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upgraded Maplebear from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $56.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 7th. Fifteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Maplebear has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $56.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ravi Gupta sold 150,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.61, for a total transaction of $7,591,500.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 591,523 shares in the company, valued at $29,936,979.03. The trade was a 20.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Morgan Fong sold 18,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $49.96, for a total value of $918,764.40. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 529,911 shares in the company, valued at $26,474,353.56. This represents a 3.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Corporate insiders own 24.00% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Maplebear

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in Maplebear by 51.2% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 131,789 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,256,000 after purchasing an additional 44,642 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Maplebear by 71.6% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 1,673 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,000 after purchasing an additional 698 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp raised its holdings in shares of Maplebear by 358.5% in the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 3,200 shares of the company’s stock worth $128,000 after buying an additional 2,502 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Maplebear by 17.4% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 390,711 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,585,000 after buying an additional 57,879 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Maplebear during the first quarter valued at $268,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.09% of the company’s stock.

Maplebear Trading Up 0.5%

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $47.65 and a 200-day moving average of $42.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.30, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 0.80.

Maplebear (NASDAQ:CART) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.09). The firm had revenue of $1.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.03 billion. Maplebear had a return on equity of 20.19% and a net margin of 11.97%.The business’s revenue was up 14.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.41 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Maplebear Inc. will post 2.33 EPS for the current year.

Maplebear Company Profile

Maplebear, Inc, doing business as Instacart, operates a leading online grocery and essentials marketplace that connects consumers, retail partners and personal shoppers through its digital platform. The company enables customers to order groceries, household items and specialty products for same-day or scheduled delivery, as well as in-store pickup. By integrating its technology with retailers’ existing inventory and point-of-sale systems, Maplebear streamlines the shopping experience and provides real-time availability and pricing.

Founded in 2012 and headquartered in San Francisco, Maplebear has grown from a regional startup to a publicly traded company listed on NASDAQ under the ticker CART.