Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eight brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $14.8333.

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CARS shares. BTIG Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $14.00 target price on shares of Cars.com in a research note on Thursday, August 6th. Zacks Research raised shares of Cars.com from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 11th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Cars.com from $12.00 to $13.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 7th. B. Riley Financial lowered shares of Cars.com from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $13.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Cars.com from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Sonia Jain sold 52,579 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $9.56, for a total value of $502,655.24. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 346,854 shares in the company, valued at $3,315,924.24. The trade was a 13.16% 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. Also, Director Jr. Donald A. Mcgovern sold 8,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $12.25, for a total value of $98,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 102,900 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,260,525. This represents a 7.21% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 152,580 shares of company stock worth $1,615,796. Corporate insiders own 3.36% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cars.com

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CARS. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al acquired a new position in Cars.com during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,118,000. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 1,132.2% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 619,718 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,780,000 after purchasing an additional 569,424 shares during the last quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE raised its holdings in shares of Cars.com by 1.3% in the second quarter. Pale Fire Capital SE now owns 4,008,218 shares of the company’s stock valued at $43,850,000 after purchasing an additional 51,600 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Cars.com in the second quarter worth $144,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in shares of Cars.com in the second quarter worth $26,000. Institutional investors own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

Cars.com Stock Performance

CARS stock opened at $12.33 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $11.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $10.35. The company has a current ratio of 2.00, a quick ratio of 2.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market cap of $659.81 million, a PE ratio of 21.62 and a beta of 1.60. Cars.com has a 1-year low of $7.40 and a 1-year high of $13.97.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.51. The company had revenue of $179.93 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $180.53 million. Cars.com had a return on equity of 18.82% and a net margin of 4.73%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.41 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Cars.com will post 1.61 earnings per share for the current year.

About Cars.com

Cars.com operates as a leading online automotive marketplace in the United States, connecting car shoppers with new and used vehicle listings from dealerships and private sellers. The platform enables consumers to research makes and models, compare prices, read expert and user reviews, and access tools such as TrueCost to estimate ownership expenses over time. Through its website and mobile applications, Cars.com aims to simplify the car-buying process by aggregating detailed vehicle data, payment calculators, and dealership ratings into a single user-friendly experience.

On the dealer side, Cars.com provides a suite of marketing and lead-generation services designed to help automotive retailers reach potential buyers and manage their online presence.