Karooooo (NASDAQ:KARO) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Shares of Karooooo Ltd. (NASDAQ:KARO) gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $38.40, but opened at $39.97. Karooooo shares last traded at $40.37, with a volume of 6,041 shares.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Karooooo from $31.00 to $37.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th.

Karooooo Stock Up 2.6 %

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.16. The firm has a market cap of $854.34 million, a P/E ratio of 31.46 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.52 and a quick ratio of 1.52.

Karooooo (NASDAQ:KARO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 18th. The company reported $0.39 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.36 by $0.03. Karooooo had a return on equity of 27.88% and a net margin of 18.70%. The company had revenue of $58.29 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $58.54 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that Karooooo Ltd. will post 1.48 earnings per share for the current year.

Karooooo Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 8th were paid a $1.08 dividend. This is a boost from Karooooo’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 8th. This represents a $4.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 10.81%. Karooooo’s payout ratio is presently 340.16%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Karooooo

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KARO. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Karooooo in the first quarter worth approximately $2,387,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. raised its stake in Karooooo by 5.4% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 209,097 shares of the company’s stock valued at $6,001,000 after buying an additional 10,705 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Karooooo by 23.3% during the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 17,757 shares of the company’s stock valued at $520,000 after buying an additional 3,356 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Karooooo during the 1st quarter valued at $67,000. Finally, Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Karooooo by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Schwarz Dygos Wheeler Investment Advisors LLC now owns 175,349 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,138,000 after buying an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter.

About Karooooo

Karooooo Ltd. provides mobility software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for connected vehicles in South Africa, rest of Africa, Europe, the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and the United States. The company offers Fleet Telematics, a fleet management SaaS platform that provides real-time insights; LiveVision, which offers pro-active risk management and fleet visibility; MiFleet advanced fleet administration and business intelligence that provides cost management and administration capability services; and Karooooo Logistics, a software application for management of last mile delivery and general operational logistics.