City Center Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

City Center Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 19.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,500 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the quarter. City Center Advisors LLC’s holdings in LKQ were worth $276,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of LKQ. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC grew its position in shares of LKQ by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of LKQ by 31.2% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,256 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of LKQ by 0.3% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 103,156 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,118,000 after purchasing an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of LKQ by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 81,526 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,391,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of LKQ by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 7,372 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 485 shares during the period. 95.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LKQ news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total value of $184,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 374,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,795,180.08. This trade represents a 1.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LKQ. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research note on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of LKQ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 18th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of LKQ from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reduced their target price on shares of LKQ from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, LKQ presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $53.80.

LKQ Stock Performance

Shares of LKQ opened at $36.27 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.53 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.72. LKQ Co. has a 1 year low of $35.56 and a 1 year high of $53.68. The company’s fifty day moving average is $37.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $39.57.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.01. LKQ had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 15.15%. The firm had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that LKQ Co. will post 3.43 earnings per share for the current year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.31%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.78%.

About LKQ

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.