BNP Paribas Financial Markets Buys 1,472 Shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets grew its stake in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) by 6.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 23,889 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,472 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets’ holdings in OPENLANE were worth $403,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 15,822 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 54,500 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 175.5% in the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,598 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 112,320 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,896,000 after acquiring an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 54,254 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $900,000 after acquiring an additional 1,450 shares during the last quarter. 99.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of OPENLANE in a research note on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded OPENLANE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, OPENLANE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.00.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

Shares of KAR opened at $20.57 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $18.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $17.42. OPENLANE, Inc. has a 52-week low of $12.86 and a 52-week high of $20.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 79.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.53.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.04. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 4.26%. The business had revenue of $448.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $431.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.18 EPS. OPENLANE’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Brad S. Lakhia purchased 4,985 shares of OPENLANE stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $20.06 per share, with a total value of $99,999.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,303 shares in the company, valued at $286,918.18. The trade was a 53.50 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE 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.