J P Morgan Chase & Co assumed coverage on shares of Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) in a research report released on Friday morning. The brokerage issued an overweight rating and a $39.00 price objective on the business services provider’s stock.
CAR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Credit Suisse Group dropped their target price on shares of Avis Budget Group from $38.00 to $27.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 15th. Raymond James Financial, Inc. upgraded shares of Avis Budget Group from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, May 9th. ValuEngine downgraded shares of Avis Budget Group from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note on Friday, June 2nd. Deutsche Bank AG restated a buy rating on shares of Avis Budget Group in a research note on Monday, June 26th. Finally, MKM Partners restated a buy rating and issued a $40.00 target price on shares of Avis Budget Group in a research note on Wednesday, June 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $36.40.
Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ CAR) traded up 4.21% during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $32.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,818,459 shares. The stock has a market cap of $2.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.25 and a beta of 2.49. Avis Budget Group has a one year low of $20.71 and a one year high of $41.53. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $28.18 and its 200-day moving average is $29.89.
Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 3rd. The business services provider reported ($0.94) EPS for the quarter, missing the Zacks’ consensus estimate of ($0.51) by $0.43. The company had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. Avis Budget Group had a return on equity of 74.55% and a net margin of 1.24%. Avis Budget Group’s revenue was down 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.28) earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Avis Budget Group will post $2.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
In other news, Director John D. Jr. Hardy sold 992 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.20, for a total transaction of $26,982.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 992 shares in the company, valued at $26,982.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.80% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Avis Budget Group by 13,924.6% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,540,051 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $223,034,000 after buying an additional 7,486,288 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in Avis Budget Group by 106.5% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 2,112,341 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $57,604,000 after buying an additional 1,089,508 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Avis Budget Group by 16.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 7,340,105 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $217,121,000 after buying an additional 1,037,148 shares during the last quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC boosted its stake in Avis Budget Group by 44.9% in the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,935,221 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $86,824,000 after buying an additional 910,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D purchased a new stake in Avis Budget Group during the first quarter worth approximately $20,706,000.
About Avis Budget Group
Avis Budget Group Inc is a provider of vehicle rental and car sharing services. The Company operates three brands, which include Avis, Budget and Zipcar. Avis and Budget are a rental car supplier. It also owns Payless, which a car rental brand; Apex, which is a car rental brand in New Zealand and Australia; Maggiore, a vehicle rental brand in Italy, and France Cars, which operates light commercial vehicle fleets in France.
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