Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) Short Interest Down 10.0% in March

Cars.com Inc. (NYSE:CARS) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,620,000 shares, a drop of 10.0% from the March 15th total of 1,800,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 378,100 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days. Approximately 2.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Thomas Alex Vetter sold 14,999 shares of Cars.com stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $284,981.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 553,886 shares in the company, valued at $10,523,834. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Douglas Neal Miller sold 1,823 shares of Cars.com stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.50, for a total value of $33,725.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 181,596 shares in the company, valued at $3,359,526. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Thomas Alex Vetter sold 14,999 shares of Cars.com stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $284,981.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 553,886 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $10,523,834. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 34,488 shares of company stock worth $654,361 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.59% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cars.com

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of CARS. Park Avenue Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of Cars.com during the first quarter worth $177,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Cars.com during the fourth quarter worth $195,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Cars.com by 16.1% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 658,577 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,493,000 after purchasing an additional 91,186 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Cars.com by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 41,321 shares of the company’s stock worth $784,000 after purchasing an additional 3,074 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Cars.com during the fourth quarter worth $421,000. Institutional investors own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

Cars.com Stock Performance

Shares of Cars.com stock remained flat at $16.16 on Wednesday. 269,447 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 369,134. The company has a 50 day moving average of $17.65 and a 200 day moving average of $17.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 1.22 and a current ratio of 1.22. Cars.com has a 1 year low of $14.82 and a 1 year high of $22.84. The stock has a market cap of $1.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.34 and a beta of 2.05.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported $0.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.19 by ($0.07). Cars.com had a net margin of 17.19% and a return on equity of 25.78%. The company had revenue of $179.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $178.40 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Cars.com will post 0.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Cars.com presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $24.00.

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.