Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. Sells 3,128 Shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ – Get Rating) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,795 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 3,128 shares during the quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc.’s holdings in LKQ were worth $2,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in LKQ by 84.1% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 6,172,143 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $280,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,819,542 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of LKQ by 6.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 29,043,132 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,369,384,000 after buying an additional 1,778,320 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of LKQ by 15.7% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 6,749,817 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $306,509,000 after buying an additional 914,423 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of LKQ by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 12,138,181 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $649,704,000 after buying an additional 762,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of LKQ by 432.2% in the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 558,987 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $26,390,000 after buying an additional 453,959 shares in the last quarter. 93.55% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on LKQ. StockNews.com began coverage on LKQ in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “strong-buy” rating for the company. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of LKQ in a report on Tuesday, February 21st.

LKQ Stock Down 1.1 %

LKQ opened at $55.16 on Tuesday. LKQ Co. has a 12 month low of $46.20 and a 12 month high of $59.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.74 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.23 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $55.92 and a 200-day simple moving average of $55.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 27th. The auto parts company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.96 by $0.08. LKQ had a return on equity of 19.24% and a net margin of 8.96%. The firm had revenue of $3.30 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.26 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.00 EPS. LKQ’s quarterly revenue was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that LKQ Co. will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 18th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. This represents a $1.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 17th. LKQ’s payout ratio is 26.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LKQ news, Director John W. Mendel sold 1,290 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.11, for a total transaction of $73,671.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $902,338. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other LKQ news, Director Holdings L.P. Valueact sold 425,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.83, for a total transaction of $24,577,750.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 202,751 shares in the company, valued at $11,725,090.33. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John W. Mendel sold 1,290 shares of LKQ stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.11, for a total value of $73,671.90. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 15,800 shares in the company, valued at $902,338. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 877,290 shares of company stock valued at $50,781,232. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

LKQ Profile

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LKQ Corp. is a distributor of vehicle products and its parts to repair, maintain, and accessorize automobiles. It operates through the following segments: Wholesale-North America, Europe and Specialty. The Wholesale-North America segment includes Glass and Self-Service segments. The company was founded by Donald F.