LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on LKQ. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.60.

LKQ Trading Down 0.5 %

LKQ stock opened at $42.00 on Friday. LKQ has a 52 week low of $35.56 and a 52 week high of $53.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.03 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.85.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The auto parts company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.04. LKQ had a return on equity of 14.93% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that LKQ will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $180,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 369,462 shares in the company, valued at $13,352,356.68. This represents a 1.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 20,000 shares of company stock worth $781,500 over the last three months. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On LKQ

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in LKQ by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,977,708 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $478,150,000 after acquiring an additional 33,212 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of LKQ by 1.2% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,449,166 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $457,051,000 after purchasing an additional 134,176 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,406,444 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $309,609,000 after purchasing an additional 833,519 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,591,553 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $241,643,000 after purchasing an additional 48,813 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its holdings in LKQ by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,020,689 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $240,346,000 after buying an additional 411,390 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

LKQ Company Profile

LKQ Corporation engages in the distribution of replacement parts, components, and systems used in the repair and maintenance of vehicles and specialty vehicle aftermarket products and accessories. It operates through four segments: Wholesale-North America, Europe, Specialty, and Self Service. The company distributes bumper covers, automotive body panels, and lights, as well as mechanical automotive parts and accessories; salvage products, including mechanical and collision parts comprising engines; transmissions; door assemblies; sheet metal products, such as trunk lids, fenders, and hoods; lights and bumper assemblies; scrap metal and other materials to metals recyclers; and brake pads, discs and sensors, clutches, steering and suspension products, filters, and oil and automotive fluids, as well as electrical products, including spark plugs and batteries.