StockNews.com Upgrades OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) to Buy

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) was upgraded by research analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report released on Thursday.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of OPENLANE in a report on Friday, February 21st. Stephens raised OPENLANE from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, OPENLANE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.80.

OPENLANE Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of OPENLANE stock traded down $0.42 during trading on Thursday, hitting $20.61. The stock had a trading volume of 567,963 shares, compared to its average volume of 668,512. OPENLANE has a 12 month low of $15.44 and a 12 month high of $22.47. The firm has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50-day moving average is $20.74 and its 200 day moving average is $19.08.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $455.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.64 million. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 6.27%. As a group, equities analysts expect that OPENLANE will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OPENLANE

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 9.6% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,268 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $263,000 after buying an additional 1,161 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in OPENLANE by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 126,451 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $2,509,000 after acquiring an additional 1,339 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its position in OPENLANE by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 23,889 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $403,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472 shares during the last quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in OPENLANE by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 41,912 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,477 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board bought a new stake in OPENLANE in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE Company Profile

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.