LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Strong-Buy”

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ – Get Rating) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Monday.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Raymond James lowered their price objective on shares of LKQ from $62.00 to $59.00 in a research report on Monday, April 11th. Barrington Research raised shares of LKQ from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $62.20.

Shares of LKQ stock traded up $1.42 during trading on Monday, hitting $52.34. The stock had a trading volume of 166,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,881,518. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $48.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $52.17. The company has a market capitalization of $14.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03 and a beta of 1.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.46. LKQ has a 1 year low of $42.36 and a 1 year high of $60.43.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 28th. The auto parts company reported $1.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.29 billion. LKQ had a net margin of 8.28% and a return on equity of 20.19%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that LKQ will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

In other news, Director Holdings L.P. Valueact sold 5,000,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.35, for a total value of $251,750,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,552,751 shares in the company, valued at $632,031,012.85. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Patrick Berard sold 702 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.72, for a total transaction of $34,903.44. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,806 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $586,994.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of LKQ by 6.5% in the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 550,291 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $24,990,000 after buying an additional 33,645 shares during the last quarter. Sawtooth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in LKQ during the 1st quarter valued at $669,000. Toroso Investments LLC raised its stake in LKQ by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 9,821 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $446,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA raised its stake in LKQ by 75.5% during the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 108,470 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $4,926,000 after purchasing an additional 46,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its stake in LKQ by 87.4% during the 1st quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 50,662 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,301,000 after purchasing an additional 23,625 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 94.02% of the company’s stock.

LKQ Company Profile (Get Rating)

LKQ Corporation distributes replacement parts, components, and systems used in the repair and maintenance of vehicles. It operates through three segments: North America, Europe, and Specialty. The company distributes bumper covers, automotive body panels, and lights, as well as automotive glass products, such as windshields; 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.

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