OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) Shares Up 4.3% – Still a Buy?

OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) was up 4.3% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $20.08 and last traded at $20.10. Approximately 700,443 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 7% from the average daily volume of 752,047 shares. The stock had previously closed at $19.28.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KAR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Stephens upgraded OPENLANE from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of OPENLANE in a research report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of OPENLANE from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of OPENLANE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, OPENLANE presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.20.

OPENLANE Stock Up 3.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $19.30.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $455.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.64 million. OPENLANE had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 9.20%. Analysts anticipate that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OPENLANE

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of KAR. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in OPENLANE during the 4th quarter worth about $34,000. Quarry LP lifted its holdings in OPENLANE by 414.6% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,182 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 1,758 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its position in OPENLANE by 435.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 2,062 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of OPENLANE during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $68,000. Finally, KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,314 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE Company 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.