LKQ’s (LKQ) “Outperform” Rating Reaffirmed at Barrington Research

Barrington Research restated their outperform rating on shares of LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. Barrington Research currently has a $60.00 price objective on the auto parts company’s stock.

LKQ has been the topic of several other research reports. Stifel Nicolaus restated a buy rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of LKQ from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of LKQ from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $63.50.

LKQ Price Performance

LKQ opened at $49.12 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $51.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 1.47. LKQ has a 1 year low of $41.49 and a 1 year high of $59.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03 and a beta of 1.28.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The auto parts company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.08. LKQ had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 17.24%. The business had revenue of $3.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.52 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.78 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that LKQ will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.29%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dominick P. Zarcone sold 200,000 shares of LKQ stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.97, for a total transaction of $10,394,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 386,522 shares in the company, valued at $20,087,548.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of LKQ

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of LKQ by 5.8% during the first quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 88,251 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $4,714,000 after buying an additional 4,815 shares in the last quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA grew its position in shares of LKQ by 3.4% during the first quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 388,875 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $20,770,000 after buying an additional 12,935 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in shares of LKQ by 20.2% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 6,886 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $368,000 after buying an additional 1,159 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of LKQ during the first quarter worth approximately $403,000. Finally, Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning boosted its holdings in LKQ by 26.5% in the first quarter. Handelsinvest Investeringsforvaltning now owns 20,662 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,104,000 after purchasing an additional 4,326 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

About LKQ

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.