7,954 Shares in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) Acquired by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp acquired a new stake in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,954 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA grew its stake in LKQ by 33.1% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 244,524 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $8,986,000 after acquiring an additional 60,843 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in LKQ by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 78,201 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,874,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC bought a new position in LKQ in the fourth quarter worth approximately $3,329,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in LKQ during the 4th quarter worth $119,395,000. Finally, Homestead Advisers Corp lifted its holdings in shares of LKQ by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 674,300 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $24,781,000 after buying an additional 25,900 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on LKQ. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of LKQ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, LKQ has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.60.

LKQ Stock Performance

LKQ stock opened at $43.38 on Thursday. LKQ Co. has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $52.84. The firm has a market cap of $11.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.56 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.39 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.03.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The auto parts company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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. On average, equities analysts forecast that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.80%.

Insider Activity at LKQ

In other news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total transaction of $180,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 369,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,352,356.68. The trade was a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 45,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,864,350 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

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.