Johnson Financial Group Inc. Buys New Position in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR)

Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 3,360 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $68,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KAR. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in OPENLANE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in OPENLANE by 435.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 2,062 shares during the period. KBC Group NV grew its position in OPENLANE by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,314 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in OPENLANE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $187,000. Finally, Quantessence Capital LLC purchased a new position in OPENLANE during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. 99.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

KAR stock opened at $18.22 on Tuesday. OPENLANE, Inc. has a one year low of $15.44 and a one year high of $22.47. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $19.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.62. The company has a market capitalization of $1.95 billion, a PE ratio of 34.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.38.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. OPENLANE had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The firm had revenue of $455.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.64 million. On average, research analysts predict that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KAR has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of OPENLANE from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $23.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, March 27th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of OPENLANE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, March 28th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of OPENLANE in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stephens raised shares of OPENLANE from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $20.00 to $26.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.75.

About OPENLANE

OPENLANE, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital marketplace for used vehicles, which connects sellers and buyers in North America, Europe, the Philippines, and Uruguay. The company operates through two segments, Marketplace and Finance. The Marketplace segment offers digital marketplace services for buying and selling used vehicles.