Instacart price target raised to $45 from $36 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler raised the firm’s price target on Instacart to $45 from $36 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares after a change in analyst coverage. The firm sees upside to Street volume estimates and says the company’s model is already profitable. Instacart’s growth accelerated every quarter through 2023 and the Street is modeling mid-single-digit growth again next year, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says large order sizes and frequency make grocery a “particularly interesting category” of the gig economy.