Balyasny Asset Management L.P. Acquires Shares of 72,716 CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG)

Balyasny Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of CarGurus, Inc. (NASDAQ:CARG) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 72,716 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,657,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CARG. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of CarGurus by 252.2% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 169,461 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,089,000 after acquiring an additional 121,341 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of CarGurus by 0.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 261,890 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,150,000 after acquiring an additional 2,051 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of CarGurus by 1.4% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 450,015 shares of the company’s stock valued at $13,514,000 after acquiring an additional 6,186 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of CarGurus by 2.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 403,833 shares of the company’s stock valued at $12,127,000 after acquiring an additional 9,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of CarGurus by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 14,251 shares of the company’s stock valued at $521,000 after acquiring an additional 4,200 shares during the last quarter. 86.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CARG shares. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of CarGurus from $29.00 to $33.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. JMP Securities dropped their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $43.00 to $38.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CarGurus from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $34.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $44.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 24th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of CarGurus from $45.00 to $39.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $36.95.

CarGurus Stock Performance

Shares of CarGurus stock opened at $30.97 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $28.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 172.07, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.45. CarGurus, Inc. has a 52 week low of $21.65 and a 52 week high of $41.33.

CarGurus (NASDAQ:CARG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.50 by ($0.06). CarGurus had a net margin of 2.34% and a return on equity of 27.14%. The business had revenue of $228.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $231.72 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that CarGurus, Inc. will post 1.41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Samuel Zales sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.84, for a total value of $268,400.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 503,382 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,510,772.88. This represents a 1.95% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Zachary Emerson Hallowell sold 1,824 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.73, for a total transaction of $48,755.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,469,286.70. The trade was a 1.39% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 31,824 shares of company stock valued at $907,856. Company insiders own 16.99% of the company’s stock.

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.