Prudential Financial Inc. Purchases 293,872 Shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 56.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 813,339 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after buying an additional 293,872 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.31% of LKQ worth $29,890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in LKQ. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 44,169 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,623,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in LKQ by 31.2% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,256 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC raised its holdings in LKQ by 81.0% during the 4th quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 742 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 332 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in LKQ by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 4,841 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $178,000 after buying an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LKQ by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Investment Partners LLC now owns 12,368 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $180,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 369,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,352,356.68. The trade was a 1.34 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have sold 35,000 shares of company stock worth $1,416,300 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on LKQ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised LKQ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $52.60.

LKQ Price Performance

NASDAQ:LKQ opened at $40.78 on Wednesday. LKQ Co. has a 52-week low of $35.56 and a 52-week high of $53.68. The company has a market cap of $10.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.71. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.92.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The auto parts company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.04. LKQ had a return on equity of 14.93% and a net margin of 4.81%. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.80%.

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.