Skylands Capital LLC Raises Position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Skylands Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 107.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 72,050 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 37,250 shares during the quarter. Skylands Capital LLC’s holdings in LKQ were worth $2,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in LKQ by 0.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,977,708 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $478,150,000 after acquiring an additional 33,212 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in LKQ by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,449,166 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $457,051,000 after purchasing an additional 134,176 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in LKQ by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,406,444 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $309,609,000 after purchasing an additional 833,519 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in LKQ by 0.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,542,740 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $260,330,000 after buying an additional 21,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its stake in LKQ by 7.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,020,689 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $240,346,000 after buying an additional 411,390 shares in the last quarter. 95.63% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LKQ news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 10,000 shares of LKQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.66, for a total transaction of $416,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 359,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,975,186.92. The trade was a 2.71 % 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 20,000 shares of company stock valued at $781,500 over the last three months. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

LKQ Stock Down 3.0 %

LKQ stock opened at $40.49 on Monday. LKQ Co. has a twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $53.68. The company has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The auto parts company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.04. LKQ had a return on equity of 14.93% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research note on Thursday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.60.

LKQ 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.