LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) Shares Sold by Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its position in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,171 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 587 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in LKQ were worth $2,064,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of LKQ by 112.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 42,563 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 22,575 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of LKQ by 11.0% during 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 period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of LKQ during the third quarter valued at approximately $634,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its stake in shares of LKQ by 58.8% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 268,031 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $9,850,000 after purchasing an additional 99,229 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP raised its stake in shares of LKQ by 27,310.6% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 64,415 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,571,000 after purchasing an additional 64,180 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LKQ 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 value 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. The trade was a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders sold a total of 35,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,416,300 over the last 90 days. 0.45% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

LKQ has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LKQ has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.60.

LKQ Stock Down 2.0 %

LKQ stock opened at $43.18 on Wednesday. LKQ Co. has a twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $53.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The company has a market capitalization of $11.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.48 and a beta of 1.27. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.92.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. LKQ had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 14.93%. On average, equities research analysts predict that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.