South Dakota Investment Council Boosts Stock Holdings in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR)

South Dakota Investment Council raised its holdings in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) by 121.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 50,203 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,500 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in OPENLANE were worth $996,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 51.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,314 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in OPENLANE in the fourth quarter valued at $187,000. Creative Planning acquired a new stake in OPENLANE in the third quarter valued at $193,000. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of OPENLANE by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 15,822 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $267,000 after purchasing an additional 793 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Paloma Partners Management Co purchased a new position in shares of OPENLANE in the 3rd quarter valued at about $333,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE Price Performance

NYSE:KAR opened at $20.96 on Monday. OPENLANE, Inc. has a 1-year low of $14.45 and a 1-year high of $21.93. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $20.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $18.58. The firm has a market cap of $2.24 billion, a PE ratio of 39.54, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.52.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 6.27%. The company had revenue of $455.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.64 million. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on KAR shares. Stephens initiated coverage on OPENLANE in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $20.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of OPENLANE in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com cut OPENLANE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $21.60.

OPENLANE Company Profile

OPENLANE, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital marketplace for used vehicles, which connects sellers and buyers in North America, Europe, the Philippines, and Uruguay. The company operates through two segments, Marketplace and Finance. The Marketplace segment offers digital marketplace services for buying and selling used vehicles.