OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) Downgraded to Hold Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Friday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on KAR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of OPENLANE in a research note on Monday, November 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

OPENLANE Price Performance

NYSE KAR opened at $20.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.04, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.53. OPENLANE has a 1-year low of $12.86 and a 1-year high of $20.85. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $19.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $17.76.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $448.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $431.68 million. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 4.26%. OPENLANE’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that OPENLANE will post 0.84 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Brad S. Lakhia acquired 4,985 shares of OPENLANE stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $20.06 per share, for a total transaction of $99,999.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $286,918.18. This represents a 53.50 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of OPENLANE

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of OPENLANE in the 2nd quarter worth $3,243,000. Clifford Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the 3rd quarter valued at about $10,309,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. grew its position in OPENLANE by 1.7% in the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 8,921,967 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $148,015,000 after acquiring an additional 146,266 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in OPENLANE by 1.4% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,475,741 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $41,799,000 after acquiring an additional 35,214 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in OPENLANE by 344.7% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 178,964 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,022,000 after purchasing an additional 138,720 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE Company 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.