Carmel Capital Partners LLC Boosts Stock Position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Carmel Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,113 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,127 shares during the quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in LKQ were worth $1,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in LKQ during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its position in LKQ by 81.0% during the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 742 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in LKQ by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,256 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank bought a new stake in LKQ during the 3rd quarter valued at $57,000. Finally, CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in LKQ by 618.0% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at LKQ

In related news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $180,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 369,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,352,356.68. This represents a 1.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 35,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,416,300 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on LKQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com lowered LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of LKQ in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.60.

LKQ Trading Down 0.1 %

LKQ opened at $42.05 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $10.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. LKQ Co. has a 12 month low of $35.56 and a 12 month high of $53.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.88.

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

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.80%.

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.