Scharf Investments LLC Acquires Shares of 8,779 CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG)

Scharf Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 8,779 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CARG. GAMMA Investing LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CarGurus in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CarGurus in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of CarGurus in the fourth quarter worth approximately $65,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CarGurus by 87.0% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,519 shares of the company’s stock worth $133,000 after purchasing an additional 2,568 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale bought a new position in shares of CarGurus in the third quarter worth approximately $107,000. 86.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Samuel Zales sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total transaction of $750,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 518,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,971,125. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, General Counsel Javier Esquivel Zamora sold 6,680 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $167,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now owns 102,130 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,553,250. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO Samuel Zales sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $25.00, for a total value of $750,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 518,845 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,971,125. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 76,317 shares of company stock valued at $1,831,473. 17.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CARG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $22.00 to $25.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Needham & Company LLC upped their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $24.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $27.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $26.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 10th. Finally, JMP Securities upgraded shares of CarGurus from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $26.13.

CarGurus Price Performance

NASDAQ CARG traded up $0.37 on Thursday, reaching $25.87. 529,668 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 940,382. CarGurus, Inc. has a 12 month low of $16.70 and a 12 month high of $26.90. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $24.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.47. The stock has a market cap of $2.70 billion, a PE ratio of 91.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.55.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 9th. The company reported $0.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.19 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $215.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $217.29 million. CarGurus had a return on equity of 8.80% and a net margin of 4.04%. As a group, analysts anticipate that CarGurus, Inc. will post 0.98 EPS for the current year.

CarGurus Company Profile

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.