Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Acquires 455 Shares of OPENLANE, Inc. $KAR

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) by 2.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,605 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in OPENLANE were worth $577,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its stake in OPENLANE by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 31,558 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $772,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its stake in OPENLANE by 13.3% in the 2nd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 4,756 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $116,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares during the period. Yousif Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in OPENLANE by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 40,160 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $982,000 after buying an additional 567 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in OPENLANE by 19.8% in the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,575 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS grew its holdings in OPENLANE by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS now owns 23,200 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $567,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

KAR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barrington Research upped their price objective on OPENLANE from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Stephens upped their price objective on OPENLANE from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Zacks Research lowered OPENLANE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings raised OPENLANE from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on OPENLANE from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $29.50.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KAR opened at $26.38 on Wednesday. OPENLANE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.72 and a 52 week high of $30.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.64, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $28.42 and its 200 day moving average is $24.31.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.09. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 11.65% and a net margin of 8.18%.The company had revenue of $481.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $453.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. OPENLANE’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP James P. Coyle sold 194,575 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.94, for a total value of $5,436,425.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 36,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,029,616.94. This trade represents a 84.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Charles S. Coleman sold 59,289 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.97, for a total value of $1,658,313.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 53,474 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,667.78. This trade represents a 52.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE Profile

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.