Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) Cut to “Hold” at Zacks Research

Zacks Research downgraded shares of Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on CARS. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Wednesday. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Cars.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Cars.com from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $14.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of Cars.com in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Cars.com from $11.00 to $12.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.50.

Cars.com Stock Down 4.0%

Shares of Cars.com stock opened at $10.67 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $12.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $11.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 1.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.94. Cars.com has a twelve month low of $9.56 and a twelve month high of $20.47. The stock has a market cap of $655.26 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.20 and a beta of 1.76.

Cars.com (NYSE:CARS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $0.41 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.45 by ($0.04). Cars.com had a return on equity of 17.43% and a net margin of 5.71%.The business had revenue of $178.74 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $179.43 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.38 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Cars.com will post 1.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Matthew B. Crawford sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $11.77, for a total value of $176,550.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 98,461 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,158,885.97. This represents a 13.22% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.39% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Cars.com

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CWM LLC raised its stake in shares of Cars.com by 119.9% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,227 shares of the company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 2,305 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Cars.com by 624.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 4,690 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 4,043 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Cars.com by 22.9% in the 1st quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 5,425 shares of the company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,010 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets raised its stake in shares of Cars.com by 30.0% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 7,025 shares of the company’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Cars.com by 436.0% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 7,960 shares of the company’s stock valued at $94,000 after purchasing an additional 6,475 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.15% of the company’s stock.

About Cars.com

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.