Renaissance Technologies LLC Purchases 116,527 Shares of CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG)

Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in shares of CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) by 500.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 139,827 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 116,527 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC’s holdings in CarGurus were worth $5,109,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of CARG. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in CarGurus by 198.5% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 800 shares of the company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 532 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in shares of CarGurus by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 912 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 456 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in CarGurus by 82.7% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 937 shares of the company’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. USA Financial Formulas acquired a new position in CarGurus in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in CarGurus during the fourth quarter worth about $77,000. 86.90% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CarGurus Price Performance

CARG stock opened at $26.61 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $30.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.05. CarGurus, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $21.65 and a fifty-two week high of $41.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.78 billion, a PE ratio of 147.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.46.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $228.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.72 million. CarGurus had a return on equity of 27.14% and a net margin of 2.34%. As a group, equities analysts expect that CarGurus, Inc. will post 1.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Samuel Zales sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.84, for a total value of $268,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 503,382 shares in the company, valued at $13,510,772.88. This represents a 1.95 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,343,400. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CARG has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on CarGurus from $36.00 to $29.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. JMP Securities dropped their price objective on CarGurus from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $45.00 target price on shares of CarGurus in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of CarGurus from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of CarGurus from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $42.00 to $34.00 in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CarGurus has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.14.

About CarGurus

CarGurus, Inc operates an online automotive platform for buying and selling vehicles in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, U.S. Marketplace and Digital Wholesale. The company provides an online automotive marketplace where customers can search for new and used car listings from its dealers and sell their car to dealers and other consumers; and paid listings subscriptions for enhanced access to its marketplace that connects dealers to a large audience of informed and engaged consumers.