Korea Investment CORP Sells 17,400 Shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Korea Investment CORP reduced its stake in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 68,678 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 17,400 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in LKQ were worth $2,524,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of LKQ by 81.0% in the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 742 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in LKQ by 618.0% during the fourth quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,673 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in LKQ during the third quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in LKQ by 107.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,099 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its stake in shares of LKQ by 24.4% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,815 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $112,000 after purchasing an additional 553 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of LKQ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $52.60.

LKQ Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NASDAQ LKQ opened at $42.97 on Wednesday. LKQ Co. has a 1 year low of $35.56 and a 1 year high of $53.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $11.11 billion, a PE ratio of 16.40 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $39.00.

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

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.79%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of LKQ stock in a transaction on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $180,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 369,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,352,356.68. This trade represents a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders have sold a total of 50,000 shares of company stock valued at $2,048,550 over the last ninety days. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.