Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the six research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $117.00.

CAR has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Avis Budget Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their target price on Avis Budget Group from $100.00 to $87.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Avis Budget Group from $145.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CAR. Yousif Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Avis Budget Group by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 7,592 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $612,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Avis Budget Group in the fourth quarter valued at $275,000. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new position in Avis Budget Group during the fourth quarter valued at about $280,000. Rhumbline Advisers grew its holdings in Avis Budget Group by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 49,460 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $3,987,000 after acquiring an additional 703 shares during the period. Finally, Alberta Investment Management Corp acquired a new position in Avis Budget Group during the fourth quarter worth about $2,999,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Avis Budget Group Price Performance

Shares of CAR opened at $134.44 on Friday. Avis Budget Group has a 12 month low of $54.03 and a 12 month high of $135.33. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $107.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $90.25. The company has a market cap of $4.73 billion, a P/E ratio of -2.14 and a beta of 2.11.

Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The business services provider reported ($14.35) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($5.72) by ($8.63). Avis Budget Group had a negative net margin of 18.96% and a negative return on equity of 14.74%. The firm had revenue of $2.43 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.49 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($3.21) EPS. The business’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Avis Budget Group will post 8.91 earnings per share for the current year.

About Avis Budget Group

Avis Budget Group, Inc engages in the provision of vehicle sharing and rental services. It operates through the following segments: Americas, International, and Corporate and Other. The Americas segment includes the vehicle rental and car sharing operations in North America, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.