South Dakota Investment Council Boosts Stake in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

South Dakota Investment Council raised its position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 23.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 446,173 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,394 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned 0.17% of LKQ worth $16,397,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of LKQ by 40.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,262 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 653 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its position in shares of LKQ by 3.7% during the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 91,386 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $3,648,000 after acquiring an additional 3,259 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of LKQ by 29.7% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 23,090 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $922,000 after acquiring an additional 5,286 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in shares of LKQ by 94.2% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,010 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 490 shares during the period. Finally, Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of LKQ by 3.8% during the third quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 140,545 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $5,611,000 after acquiring an additional 5,179 shares during the period. 95.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LKQ news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of LKQ stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $180,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 369,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,352,356.68. The trade was a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 20,000 shares of company stock valued at $781,500 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LKQ has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.60.

LKQ Trading Down 3.0 %

NASDAQ:LKQ opened at $40.49 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.76. LKQ Co. has a 12 month low of $35.56 and a 12 month high of $53.68. The company has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45 and a beta of 1.29.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last issued 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. LKQ had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 14.93%. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.80%.

LKQ Company Profile

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.