Analysts Set Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Price Target at $17.30

Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Buy” from the six analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, four have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $17.30.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CARS shares. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Cars.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 22nd. B. Riley reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price (up previously from $21.00) on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Friday, August 8th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Cars.com from $12.00 to $11.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cars.com from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $14.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 17th.

Cars.com Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Cars.com stock opened at $12.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.82 and a quick ratio of 1.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $750.80 million, a PE ratio of 19.71 and a beta of 1.78. Cars.com has a 1-year low of $9.56 and a 1-year high of $20.47. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $12.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $11.90.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.45 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $178.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.43 million. Cars.com had a net margin of 5.71% and a return on equity of 17.43%. Cars.com’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.38 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Cars.com will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Cars.com

In other news, insider Matthew B. Crawford sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $11.77, for a total transaction of $176,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 98,461 shares in the company, valued at $1,158,885.97. This trade represents a 13.22% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.12% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Cars.com

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Cars.com by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 165,796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,873,000 after acquiring an additional 40,633 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP grew its stake in shares of Cars.com by 670.8% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 134,478 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,331,000 after buying an additional 117,031 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of Cars.com during the 4th quarter valued at about $331,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Cars.com by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 202,690 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,513,000 after acquiring an additional 38,421 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp purchased a new stake in Cars.com during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $597,000. Institutional investors own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

Cars.com Company Profile

Cars.com Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as a digital automotive marketplace that connects local car dealers to consumers in the United States. The company offers a suite of digital solutions that creates connections between individuals researching cars or looking to purchase a car with car dealerships and automotive original equipment manufacturers.