OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) Upgraded to “Overweight” at Stephens

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) was upgraded by stock analysts at Stephens from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm presently has a $26.00 price objective on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $20.00. Stephens’ price objective points to a potential upside of 16.41% from the company’s current price.

KAR has been the subject of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of OPENLANE in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered OPENLANE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.80.

OPENLANE Stock Up 4.8 %

KAR opened at $22.34 on Friday. OPENLANE has a 52 week low of $15.13 and a 52 week high of $22.47. The business’s 50 day moving average is $20.51 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.72. The firm has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.52.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $455.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.64 million. OPENLANE had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 9.20%. Equities analysts expect that OPENLANE will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OPENLANE

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of OPENLANE in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,941,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new stake in OPENLANE in the fourth quarter valued at $15,793,000. TFJ Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the 4th quarter worth $14,465,000. River Road Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 5,045,087 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $85,161,000 after purchasing an additional 671,104 shares during the period. Finally, Clifford Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of OPENLANE during the 3rd quarter worth $10,309,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

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.