Lazard Asset Management LLC Takes $1.01 Million Position in Karooooo Ltd. $KARO

Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in Karooooo Ltd. (NASDAQ:KARO) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 20,360 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,015,000.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its position in Karooooo by 5.7% during the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 7,359 shares of the company’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Karooooo by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Karooooo by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Karooooo by 22.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 6,195 shares of the company’s stock valued at $354,000 after purchasing an additional 1,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury increased its position in shares of Karooooo by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 12,347 shares of the company’s stock valued at $618,000 after purchasing an additional 1,242 shares during the last quarter.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on KARO shares. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Karooooo from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Karooooo from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Karooooo in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Karooooo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Karooooo in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Karooooo currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.50.

Karooooo Price Performance

KARO opened at $65.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 1.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.04 billion, a PE ratio of 33.46 and a beta of 0.85. The business’s 50-day moving average is $54.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.50. Karooooo Ltd. has a 1 year low of $41.25 and a 1 year high of $67.14.

Karooooo (NASDAQ:KARO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 16th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $96.26 million for the quarter. Karooooo had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 17.74%. Research analysts anticipate that Karooooo Ltd. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Karooooo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 17th were issued a $1.50 dividend. This is an increase from Karooooo’s previous annual dividend of $1.25. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 17th. This represents a dividend yield of 239.0%. Karooooo’s payout ratio is currently 76.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Karooooo

In other Karooooo news, CEO Isaias Jose Calisto sold 20,417 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.51, for a total value of $1,317,100.67. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 17,773,613 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,146,575,774.63. This represents a 0.11% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 144,345 shares of company stock valued at $9,258,554 in the last quarter. 74.73% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Karooooo Company Profile

Karooooo Ltd is a global provider of telematics software-as-a-service solutions for vehicle and fleet management. Through its flagship platform, the company delivers real-time GPS tracking, stolen vehicle recovery and driver behaviour analytics, enabling commercial fleets and automotive insurers to optimise operations, increase safety and reduce costs.

Karooooo’s SaaS platform integrates proprietary hardware devices with cloud-based analytics and mobile applications. Customers gain access to live vehicle location data, engine diagnostics, route planning tools and customizable reporting dashboards.