River Road Asset Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR)

River Road Asset Management LLC trimmed its position in shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) by 4.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,842,398 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 202,689 shares during the quarter. OPENLANE makes up 1.3% of River Road Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. River Road Asset Management LLC owned 4.53% of OPENLANE worth $96,073,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of OPENLANE by 435.9% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 2,062 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of OPENLANE by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,314 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of OPENLANE during the 4th quarter worth approximately $187,000. Creative Planning purchased a new stake in OPENLANE in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $193,000. Finally, Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in OPENLANE during the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. 99.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on KAR. Stephens raised OPENLANE from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $26.00 in a report on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of OPENLANE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of OPENLANE in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OPENLANE has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.80.

OPENLANE Trading Up 0.8 %

OPENLANE stock opened at $21.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $20.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $18.89. OPENLANE, Inc. has a 52 week low of $15.43 and a 52 week high of $22.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.54, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. OPENLANE had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The company had revenue of $455.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $416.64 million. As a group, equities analysts predict that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

OPENLANE 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.