Connable Office Inc. Acquires Shares of 5,530 LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Connable Office Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,530 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in LKQ. Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new stake in shares of LKQ in the third quarter valued at $45,733,000. Seizert Capital Partners LLC increased its position in LKQ by 451.1% in the third quarter. Seizert Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,327,664 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $53,000,000 after purchasing an additional 1,086,758 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in 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 worth $309,609,000 after purchasing an additional 833,519 shares during the period. Private Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in LKQ in the third quarter worth about $19,889,000. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in LKQ by 68.5% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,210,661 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $44,492,000 after purchasing an additional 492,356 shares during the period. 95.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of LKQ stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $180,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 369,462 shares in the company, valued at $13,352,356.68. The trade was a 1.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 20,000 shares of company stock worth $781,500 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

LKQ Price Performance

LKQ stock opened at $42.19 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.10 and a beta of 1.29. LKQ Co. has a 1 year low of $35.56 and a 1 year high of $53.68. The business has a 50-day moving average of $38.13 and a 200-day moving average of $38.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.80%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on LKQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.60.

About LKQ

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.