Brandes Investment Partners LP Boosts Stake in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Brandes Investment Partners LP raised its position in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 118.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,467,822 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 796,461 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP’s holdings in LKQ were worth $53,942,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKQ. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of LKQ by 0.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,977,708 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $478,150,000 after buying an additional 33,212 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in LKQ by 1.2% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,449,166 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $457,051,000 after purchasing an additional 134,176 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in LKQ by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,406,444 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $309,609,000 after purchasing an additional 833,519 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in LKQ by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,542,740 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $260,330,000 after purchasing an additional 21,161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in LKQ by 7.3% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,020,689 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $240,346,000 after purchasing an additional 411,390 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at LKQ

In related news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $180,700.00. Following the completion of 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 through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 35,000 shares of company stock worth $1,416,300. 0.45% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

LKQ Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ LKQ opened at $41.66 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $39.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.97. LKQ Co. has a 52-week low of $35.56 and a 52-week high of $53.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.90 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

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

LKQ Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. LKQ’s payout ratio is 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.