OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) was the recipient of a large increase in short interest in September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 4,440,000 shares, an increase of 6.5% from the September 15th total of 4,170,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 671,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 6.6 days. Currently, 4.2% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Institutional Trading of OPENLANE

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KAR. Invenomic Capital Management LP grew its stake in OPENLANE by 277.0% during the 1st quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 1,529,680 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123,953 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OPENLANE in the second quarter worth about $3,243,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 293.5% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 243,164 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $4,034,000 after buying an additional 181,364 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its position in OPENLANE by 14.4% during the second quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,441,923 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $23,922,000 after purchasing an additional 181,130 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its position in OPENLANE by 1.7% during the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 8,921,967 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $148,015,000 after purchasing an additional 146,266 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:KAR opened at $16.33 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $16.66 and its 200 day moving average is $17.03. OPENLANE has a 1 year low of $12.86 and a 1 year high of $18.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.77 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.44.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The specialty retailer reported $0.19 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.21 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $431.80 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $426.11 million. OPENLANE had a net margin of 3.39% and a return on equity of 7.85%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.25 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that OPENLANE will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of OPENLANE in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $19.50.

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.