ING Groep NV Buys New Position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

ING Groep NV purchased a new position in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 33,202 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,220,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in LKQ by 0.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,977,708 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $478,150,000 after buying an additional 33,212 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of LKQ by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,449,166 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $457,051,000 after purchasing an additional 134,176 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of LKQ by 11.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 833,519 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of LKQ by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,542,740 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $260,330,000 after purchasing an additional 21,161 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in LKQ by 7.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,020,689 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $240,346,000 after purchasing an additional 411,390 shares during the last quarter. 95.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

LKQ Trading Down 3.0 %

NASDAQ LKQ opened at $40.49 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.71, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. LKQ Co. has a 1-year low of $35.56 and a 1-year high of $53.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.76. The company has a market capitalization of $10.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45 and a beta of 1.29.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The auto parts company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.04. LKQ had a net margin of 4.81% and a return on equity of 14.93%. The firm had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.66, for a total transaction of $416,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 359,462 shares in the company, valued at $14,975,186.92. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last three months, insiders sold 20,000 shares of company stock valued at $781,500. Company insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on LKQ shares. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.60.

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.