Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) Hits New 52-Week High on Analyst Upgrade

Shares of Carvana Co. (NYSE:CVNA) reached a new 52-week high on Thursday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $60.00 to $77.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Carvana traded as high as $121.85 and last traded at $119.88, with a volume of 7411419 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $87.09.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on CVNA. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Carvana from $32.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Carvana from an “underperform” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 12th. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Carvana from $78.00 to $77.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. William Blair upgraded Carvana from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their price objective on Carvana from $58.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Carvana has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $67.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Ernest C. Garcia III sold 9,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.83, for a total transaction of $777,773.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 861,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,354,566.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Ernest C. Garcia III sold 9,390 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.83, for a total transaction of $777,773.70. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 861,458 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $71,354,566.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Stephen R. Palmer sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.75, for a total value of $433,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 62,514 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,423,089.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 287,883 shares of company stock valued at $23,778,678 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 17.12% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Carvana

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Carvana by 11.9% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 4,687 shares of the company’s stock valued at $412,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Carvana in the first quarter valued at $244,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Carvana by 9.2% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,702 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 1,068 shares during the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Carvana in the first quarter valued at $357,000. Finally, Investmentaktiengesellschaft Fuer Langfristige Investoren TGV grew its holdings in Carvana by 17.6% in the first quarter. Investmentaktiengesellschaft Fuer Langfristige Investoren TGV now owns 588,149 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,704,000 after purchasing an additional 88,149 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 56.71% of the company’s stock.

Carvana Price Performance

The company has a 50-day moving average price of $79.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $54.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.89 billion, a PE ratio of 214.89 and a beta of 3.28.

Carvana (NYSE:CVNA) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The company reported ($1.00) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.95) by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $2.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.56 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.97) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 14.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Carvana Co. will post -3.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.