Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-four brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, sixteen have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $84.1364.

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CVNA. Gordon Haskett raised their price target on shares of Carvana from $67.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research cut shares of Carvana from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Carvana from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on shares of Carvana from $95.00 to $90.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 14th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $120.00 target price on shares of Carvana in a research report on Thursday, July 30th.

Carvana Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CVNA opened at $74.14 on Friday. Carvana has a fifty-two week low of $54.46 and a fifty-two week high of $97.38. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $67.95 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.38. The company has a quick ratio of 2.33, a current ratio of 3.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. The firm has a market cap of $81.58 billion, a PE ratio of 41.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 3.46.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The company reported $0.42 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.03. Carvana had a return on equity of 37.06% and a net margin of 6.26%.The company had revenue of $7.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.51 EPS. Carvana’s revenue for the quarter was up 52.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Carvana will post 1.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Carvana news, CFO Mark W. Jenkins sold 63,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.34, for a total transaction of $4,356,675.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 1,029,580 shares in the company, valued at $70,361,497.20. This represents a 5.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Ira J. Platt sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.83, for a total value of $1,017,450.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 186,470 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,648,260.10. This represents a 7.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 420,897 shares of company stock valued at $28,777,664. 15.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CVNA. Sands Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Carvana by 44.4% during the fourth quarter. Sands Capital Management LLC now owns 2,442,534 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,030,798,000 after acquiring an additional 751,019 shares during the period. Capricorn Fund Managers Ltd bought a new position in Carvana in the first quarter worth about $29,866,000. Gavilan Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in Carvana by 24.6% in the fourth quarter. Gavilan Investment Partners LLC now owns 86,000 shares of the company’s stock valued at $36,294,000 after acquiring an additional 17,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Carvana by 9.9% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 395,180 shares of the company’s stock valued at $124,237,000 after acquiring an additional 35,720 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its stake in Carvana by 239.6% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 221,727 shares of the company’s stock valued at $93,748,000 after acquiring an additional 156,430 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.71% of the company’s stock.

About Carvana

Carvana Co is an online-only retailer of used vehicles that operates a consumer-facing e-commerce platform for buying and selling cars. The company markets and sells inspected, reconditioned pre-owned vehicles through its website, where shoppers can browse inventory, view detailed 360-degree photos and vehicle history reports, finance purchases, and arrange delivery or pickup. Carvana’s model is built around a digital end-to-end car buying experience that aims to simplify vehicle transactions compared with traditional dealerships.

Its products and services include direct retail sales of used cars, trade-in and purchase offers for consumer vehicles, vehicle financing and related protection products, and a seven-day return policy that allows customers to test a vehicle in everyday use.