Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) Earns Buy Rating from Needham & Company LLC

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reiterated by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $340.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price target points to a potential upside of 26.74% from the stock’s current price.

CVNA has been the topic of a number of other reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on Carvana from $320.00 to $280.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JMP Securities cut their price objective on Carvana from $340.00 to $275.00 and set a “market outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Evercore ISI decreased their target price on shares of Carvana from $250.00 to $240.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Stephens reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of Carvana in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Carvana from $365.00 to $325.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $268.59.

Carvana Stock Down 6.0 %

CVNA stock opened at $268.27 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $209.94 and its two-hundred day moving average is $227.00. The company has a market cap of $57.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 170.87 and a beta of 3.61. Carvana has a fifty-two week low of $97.55 and a fifty-two week high of $293.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.82, a quick ratio of 2.12 and a current ratio of 3.64.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The company reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.75 by $0.76. Carvana had a net margin of 1.54% and a return on equity of 36.59%. The company had revenue of $4.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.94 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 38.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Carvana will post 2.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Carvana news, COO Benjamin E. Huston sold 50,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.49, for a total transaction of $8,924,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 196,278 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,033,660.22. The trade was a 20.30 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Mark W. Jenkins sold 28,422 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.85, for a total value of $8,209,694.70. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 219,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $63,536,023.70. The trade was a 11.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 348,560 shares of company stock worth $73,806,520. Insiders own 17.12% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Carvana

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Carvana by 9.7% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 12,534,843 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,620,785,000 after acquiring an additional 1,109,476 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Carvana during the 4th quarter valued at $179,364,000. Castle Hook Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Carvana during the 4th quarter worth $116,020,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its position in Carvana by 89.8% during the fourth quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 1,018,321 shares of the company’s stock valued at $207,086,000 after purchasing an additional 481,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership bought a new position in Carvana in the fourth quarter worth about $86,636,000. 56.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.