Simplicity Solutions LLC Has $703,000 Stake in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Simplicity Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 14,715 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the period. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in LKQ were worth $703,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of LKQ. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its position in LKQ by 27.7% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 36,922 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,677,000 after purchasing an additional 8,002 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in LKQ by 23.3% during the 1st quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 73,041 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $3,317,000 after purchasing an additional 13,792 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in LKQ by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 35,882 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222 shares during the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC raised its position in LKQ by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 44,028 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. raised its position in shares of LKQ by 25.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 12,163 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $553,000 after acquiring an additional 2,429 shares in the last quarter. 95.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LKQ has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com lowered LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on LKQ from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LKQ has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.50.

LKQ Stock Performance

Shares of LKQ stock opened at $47.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.69 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 1.47 and a quick ratio of 0.53. LKQ Co. has a one year low of $41.49 and a one year high of $59.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.36.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The auto parts company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.52 billion. LKQ had a return on equity of 17.24% and a net margin of 6.75%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that LKQ Co. will post 4.08 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.50%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.29%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LKQ

In other LKQ news, CEO Dominick P. Zarcone sold 200,000 shares of LKQ stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.97, for a total transaction of $10,394,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 386,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,087,548.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

About LKQ

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.