Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) Trading Down 5% After Analyst Downgrade

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR)’s share price dropped 5% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price target on the stock from $202.00 to $183.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. Avis Budget Group traded as low as $100.13 and last traded at $100.13. Approximately 410,234 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average daily volume of 822,222 shares. The stock had previously closed at $105.35.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Northcoast Research raised shares of Avis Budget Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Susquehanna cut their price objective on shares of Avis Budget Group from $195.00 to $145.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of Avis Budget Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $118.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Avis Budget Group in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $170.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Avis Budget Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.86.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Avis Budget Group by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 2,363,042 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $460,321,000 after purchasing an additional 22,518 shares during the period. Nomura Holdings Inc. increased its position in Avis Budget Group by 70.4% during the 1st quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. now owns 1,534,724 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $298,964,000 after purchasing an additional 634,040 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Avis Budget Group by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,458,488 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $384,020,000 after purchasing an additional 16,655 shares during the period. Par Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Avis Budget Group by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Par Capital Management Inc. now owns 848,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $150,486,000 after purchasing an additional 117,600 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in Avis Budget Group by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 622,685 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $163,952,000 after purchasing an additional 3,626 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Avis Budget Group Trading Down 0.3 %

The firm has a market cap of $3.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 2.22. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $156.13.

Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 13th. The business services provider reported $7.10 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.15 by $2.95. The company had revenue of $2.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.81 billion. Avis Budget Group had a net margin of 13.59% and a negative return on equity of 696.69%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $10.46 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Avis Budget Group, Inc. will post 15.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Avis Budget Group Company Profile

Avis Budget Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides car and truck rentals, car sharing, and ancillary products and services to businesses and consumers in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It operates the Avis brand, that offers vehicle rental and other mobility solutions to the premium commercial and leisure segments of the travel industry; and the Zipcar brand, a car sharing network, as well as the Budget brand, a supplier of vehicle rental and other mobility solutions focused primarily on more value-conscious customers comprising Budget car rental, and Budget Truck, a local, and one-way truck and cargo van rental businesses with a fleet of approximately 19,000 vehicles, which are rented through a network of dealer-operated and company-operated locations that serve the light commercial and consumer sectors in the continental United States.