Leuthold Group LLC Sells 2,958 Shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Leuthold Group LLC trimmed its position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 82,316 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 2,958 shares during the quarter. Leuthold Group LLC’s holdings in LKQ were worth $3,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of LKQ. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 112.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 42,563 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 22,575 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of LKQ by 11.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group acquired a new position in LKQ in the 3rd quarter valued at about $634,000. Ninety One UK Ltd raised its holdings in LKQ by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 833,015 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $30,613,000 after acquiring an additional 184,710 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP lifted its position in LKQ by 27,310.6% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 64,415 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $2,571,000 after acquiring an additional 64,180 shares during the last quarter. 95.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LKQ has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a report on Thursday. Robert W. Baird lowered their price objective on LKQ from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of LKQ from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at LKQ

In other news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.84, for a total value of $184,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 374,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,795,180.08. This represents a 1.32 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 20,000 shares of company stock valued at $781,500. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

LKQ Stock Performance

NASDAQ:LKQ opened at $40.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $10.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.11 and a beta of 1.29. LKQ Co. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $53.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $38.76.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The auto parts company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.04. LKQ had a net margin of 4.90% and a return on equity of 15.15%. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that LKQ Co. will post 3.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. LKQ’s payout ratio is presently 44.78%.

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.