Karooooo (NASDAQ:KARO) Shares Gap Down on Analyst Downgrade

Karooooo Ltd. (NASDAQ:KARO)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Monday after Freedom Capital downgraded the stock from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating. The stock had previously closed at $65.16, but opened at $62.69. Karooooo shares last traded at $64.03, with a volume of 10,948 shares traded.

KARO has been the topic of several other research reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Karooooo from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 target price on shares of Karooooo in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Karooooo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, June 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Karooooo in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Raymond James Financial boosted their price target on Karooooo from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.50.

Institutional Trading of Karooooo

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Karooooo by 9.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,798 shares of the company’s stock worth $438,000 after buying an additional 764 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Karooooo during the first quarter valued at approximately $1,015,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Karooooo by 1.4% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 27,987 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Karooooo by 35.1% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 19,259 shares of the company’s stock valued at $960,000 after acquiring an additional 4,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Karooooo during the first quarter valued at approximately $296,000.

Karooooo Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $1.97 billion, a PE ratio of 32.37 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $50.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15.

Karooooo (NASDAQ:KARO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.51 by $0.08. Karooooo had a return on equity of 32.03% and a net margin of 17.74%.The business had revenue of $96.26 million for the quarter. Karooooo has set its FY 2027 guidance at 2.334-2.425 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Karooooo Ltd. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Karooooo Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared an annual dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 17th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This is an increase from Karooooo’s previous annual dividend of $1.25. This represents a dividend yield of 239.0%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 17th. Karooooo’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.14%.

Karooooo Company Profile

Karooooo Ltd is a global provider of telematics software-as-a-service solutions for vehicle and fleet management. Through its flagship platform, the company delivers real-time GPS tracking, stolen vehicle recovery and driver behaviour analytics, enabling commercial fleets and automotive insurers to optimise operations, increase safety and reduce costs.

Karooooo’s SaaS platform integrates proprietary hardware devices with cloud-based analytics and mobile applications. Customers gain access to live vehicle location data, engine diagnostics, route planning tools and customizable reporting dashboards.