Vestcor Inc Buys 6,537 Shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Vestcor Inc boosted its position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 108.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 12,561 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,537 shares during the period. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in LKQ were worth $462,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of LKQ. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in 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 valued at $478,150,000 after acquiring an additional 33,212 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in LKQ by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,449,166 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $457,051,000 after purchasing an additional 134,176 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $309,609,000 after buying an additional 833,519 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of LKQ by 0.3% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in LKQ by 7.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,020,689 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $240,346,000 after buying an additional 411,390 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LKQ has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, March 1st. One 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 stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.60.

LKQ Stock Performance

LKQ opened at $42.24 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $10.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.12 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.41 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.92. LKQ Co. has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $53.68.

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

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LKQ

In other LKQ news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $180,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 369,462 shares in the company, valued at $13,352,356.68. This represents a 1.34 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders sold 35,000 shares of company stock worth $1,416,300 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

LKQ Company 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.