StockNews.com Downgrades OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) to Hold

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut OPENLANE from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of OPENLANE in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stephens raised shares of OPENLANE from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, OPENLANE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.20.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

KAR stock opened at $19.27 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $20.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $19.25. OPENLANE has a one year low of $15.44 and a one year high of $22.47. The company has a market capitalization of $2.06 billion, a PE ratio of 36.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $455.00 million during 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%. On average, research analysts predict that OPENLANE will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of OPENLANE

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of KAR. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 9,278,497 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $184,085,000 after acquiring an additional 153,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in OPENLANE by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,475,741 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $41,799,000 after purchasing an additional 35,214 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in OPENLANE in the 4th quarter worth about $43,941,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in OPENLANE by 0.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,759,952 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $29,708,000 after purchasing an additional 6,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of OPENLANE by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,493,988 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $29,641,000 after buying an additional 35,164 shares during the period. 99.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.