Dominick P. Zarcone Sells 15,000 Shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) Stock

LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.32, for a total value of $634,800.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 336,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,225,233.20. This trade represents a 4.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

LKQ Trading Up 1.7 %

NASDAQ LKQ opened at $42.75 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.90. LKQ Co. has a one year low of $35.56 and a one year high of $53.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.32 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The auto parts company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.04. LKQ had a return on equity of 14.93% and a net margin of 4.81%. The business had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. Research analysts expect that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.80%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On LKQ

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in LKQ by 112.9% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 42,563 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after acquiring an additional 22,575 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in LKQ by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,406,444 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $309,609,000 after acquiring an additional 833,519 shares during the period. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group acquired a new stake in LKQ in the third quarter valued at approximately $634,000. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its stake in LKQ by 58.8% in the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 268,031 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $9,850,000 after acquiring an additional 99,229 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP grew its stake in LKQ by 27,310.6% in the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 64,415 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $2,571,000 after acquiring an additional 64,180 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com downgraded LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.60.

LKQ Company Profile

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.