Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) Trading Down 7% Following Analyst Downgrade

Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) shares fell 7% during mid-day trading on Tuesday after Bank of America lowered their price target on the stock from $170.00 to $140.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. Avis Budget Group traded as low as $96.11 and last traded at $96.30. 261,505 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 817,998 shares. The stock had previously closed at $103.56.

CAR has been the subject of several other reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Avis Budget Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $118.00 to $130.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of Avis Budget Group from $202.00 to $183.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Avis Budget Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Avis Budget Group from $190.00 to $187.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Northcoast Research raised shares of Avis Budget Group from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $155.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Avis Budget Group has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $164.57.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CAR. Par Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Avis Budget Group by 16.1% in the fourth quarter. Par Capital Management Inc. now owns 848,959 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $150,486,000 after acquiring an additional 117,600 shares in the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in Avis Budget Group by 13.6% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 460,000 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $82,657,000 after acquiring an additional 55,000 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in Avis Budget Group by 11.1% in the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 403,279 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $71,305,000 after acquiring an additional 40,314 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Avis Budget Group in the third quarter valued at $62,892,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Avis Budget Group by 47.8% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 327,275 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $58,013,000 after acquiring an additional 105,867 shares in the last quarter. 96.35% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Avis Budget Group Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 2.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $111.15 and its 200-day moving average is $151.21.

Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported ($3.21) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($2.65) by ($0.56). Avis Budget Group had a net margin of 13.59% and a negative return on equity of 696.69%. The business had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $7.72 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Avis Budget Group, Inc. will post 14.73 EPS for the current year.

About Avis Budget Group

Avis Budget Group, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides car and truck rentals, car sharing, and ancillary products and services to businesses and consumers in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Asia, and Australasia. It operates the Avis brand, that offers vehicle rental and other mobility solutions to the premium commercial and leisure segments of the travel industry; and the Zipcar brand, a car sharing network, as well as the Budget brand, a supplier of vehicle rental and other mobility solutions focused primarily on more value-conscious customers comprising Budget car rental, and Budget Truck, a local, and one-way truck and cargo van rental businesses with a fleet of approximately 19,000 vehicles, which are rented through a network of dealer-operated and company-operated locations that serve the light commercial and consumer sectors in the continental United States.