Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) Downgraded by Wall Street Zen to Hold

Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Sunday.

CVNA has been the topic of several other research reports. JMP Securities raised their price objective on Carvana from $440.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Carvana in a report on Thursday, October 9th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Carvana from $340.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Carvana in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, BTIG Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Carvana in a report on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Carvana has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $407.44.

Carvana Stock Performance

NYSE:CVNA opened at $333.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.72 billion, a PE ratio of 83.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 3.55. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $364.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $320.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.51, a current ratio of 4.00 and a quick ratio of 2.58. Carvana has a 12 month low of $148.25 and a 12 month high of $413.33.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.09 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $4.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.54 billion. Carvana had a return on equity of 40.57% and a net margin of 3.46%.Carvana’s revenue for the quarter was up 41.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.05) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Carvana will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Ernest C. Garcia II sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.30, for a total transaction of $37,130,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 35,142,792 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,048,518,669.60. This trade represents a 0.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder Ernest C. Garcia II sold 93,376 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.16, for a total value of $36,805,084.16. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 6,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,610,915.84. This represents a 93.38% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 1,618,292 shares of company stock valued at $588,235,207 over the last quarter. 16.36% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Carvana

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ethic Inc. lifted its position in Carvana by 14.2% in the third quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 10,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,887,000 after purchasing an additional 1,281 shares during the period. Encompass More Asset Management acquired a new stake in Carvana in the third quarter valued at about $1,016,000. LeConte Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Carvana in the third quarter valued at about $213,000. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Carvana by 252.2% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 796 shares of the company’s stock valued at $300,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares during the period. Finally, Avanza Fonder AB lifted its position in Carvana by 1.4% in the third quarter. Avanza Fonder AB now owns 12,341 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,656,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.71% of the company’s stock.

About Carvana

Carvana Co, together with its subsidiaries, operates an e-commerce platform for buying and selling used cars in the United States. Its platform allows customers to research and identify a vehicle; inspect it using company's 360-degree vehicle imaging technology; obtain financing and warranty coverage; purchase the vehicle; and schedule delivery or pick-up from their desktop or mobile devices.