Carvana Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:CVNA)

Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) saw unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders acquired 113,933 call options on the company. This is an increase of 41% compared to the typical daily volume of 80,752 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on CVNA. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price target on shares of Carvana in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of Carvana from $500.00 to $440.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group set a $485.00 target price on shares of Carvana in a research report on Friday. Gordon Haskett decreased their price target on shares of Carvana from $435.00 to $350.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Carvana in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Twenty analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $440.59.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Carvana news, insider Daniel J. Gill sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $475.24, for a total transaction of $19,009,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 191,106 shares in the company, valued at $90,821,215.44. The trade was a 17.31% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Mark W. Jenkins sold 12,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $410.19, for a total value of $5,229,922.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 202,817 shares in the company, valued at approximately $83,193,505.23. The trade was a 5.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 410,351 shares of company stock worth $176,089,049 over the last three months. 16.36% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CVNA. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Carvana in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. acquired a new stake in Carvana during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its position in Carvana by 8,700.0% during the 3rd quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 88 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Carvana during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Salomon & Ludwin LLC increased its holdings in shares of Carvana by 112.5% in the fourth quarter. Salomon & Ludwin LLC now owns 85 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 45 shares during the period. 56.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Carvana Stock Performance

Shares of CVNA stock opened at $325.08 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $70.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.43 and a beta of 3.57. Carvana has a 52-week low of $148.25 and a 52-week high of $486.89. The company has a quick ratio of 2.73, a current ratio of 4.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15. The company’s 50 day moving average is $420.54 and its 200 day moving average is $381.76.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The company reported $4.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.10 by $3.12. The business had revenue of $5.60 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.24 billion. Carvana had a net margin of 6.92% and a return on equity of 50.96%. The company’s revenue was up 58.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Carvana will post 2.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Trending Headlines about Carvana

Here are the key news stories impacting Carvana this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat expectations — Carvana reported big quarterly profit and revenue gains (EPS $4.22 vs. ~$1.10 est; revenue $5.60B, +58% YoY), highlighting improved profitability and stronger-than-expected top-line growth. This supports a longer-term growth story for investors. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy bullish options activity — Traders bought ~113,933 call options (≈+41% vs. normal volume), a sign of speculative bullish positioning or hedging that can lift intraday volatility and indicate some market participants expect higher prices.
• Positive Sentiment: Sell-side support remains in pockets — Needham reiterated a Buy rating, showing some firms still back Carvana’s recovery story. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Earnings call provided context but mixed signals — Management’s Q4 call and shareholder letter contain the details investors are parsing (growth drivers vs. margin dynamics). Read the transcript for guidance on guidance/operational cadence. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Longer-term growth debate continues — Coverage pieces are assessing whether Carvana has a multi-year runway given scale, used-car market dynamics and its improving margins; conclusions vary and add to investor uncertainty. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst target cuts after Q4 results — UBS cut its target to $485 (kept Buy) citing a Q4 miss on some metrics; the downgrade in expectations helped trigger selling pressure despite the headline beat. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Broad trimming of price targets — Multiple firms trimmed targets (examples: Jefferies to $485, Gordon Haskett to $350, Wells Fargo to $425, JPMorgan to $490, Evercore to $390, Citi to $465, BofA to $400, Wedbush to $425). The cluster of cuts tightened the range of near-term upside and increased selling pressure. Jefferies PT Cut Gordon Haskett PT Cut Wells Fargo PT Cut

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.