Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Invests $1.07 Million in Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR)

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Avis Budget Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:CAR) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 8,726 shares of the business services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,069,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CAR. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Avis Budget Group in the third quarter valued at about $62,892,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Avis Budget Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,234,000. Par Capital Management Inc. increased its stake 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 during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake 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 during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Avis Budget Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $12,317,000. Institutional investors own 96.35% of the company’s stock.

Avis Budget Group Price Performance

Shares of CAR stock traded down $2.13 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $105.15. 416,719 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 552,441. Avis Budget Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $93.53 and a fifty-two week high of $244.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $111.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $127.98. The company has a market cap of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 2.21.

Avis Budget Group (NASDAQ:CAR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The business services provider reported ($3.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($2.65) by ($0.56). The company had revenue of $2.55 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.41 billion. Avis Budget Group had a negative return on equity of 480.48% and a net margin of 10.05%. Avis Budget Group’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $7.72 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Avis Budget Group, Inc. will post 12.4 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on CAR. Susquehanna reduced their price target on shares of Avis Budget Group from $145.00 to $117.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Avis Budget Group from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $118.00 to $130.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. StockNews.com lowered shares of Avis Budget Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of Avis Budget Group from $202.00 to $183.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Avis Budget Group presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $164.57.

Avis Budget Group Profile

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.