Kimelman & Baird LLC Invests $15.79 Million in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR)

Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 796,040 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $15,793,000. OPENLANE makes up 1.3% of Kimelman & Baird LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Kimelman & Baird LLC owned 0.75% of OPENLANE at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in KAR. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its stake in OPENLANE by 435.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,062 shares during the period. KBC Group NV raised its stake in OPENLANE by 51.1% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,314 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 1,798 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in OPENLANE in the 4th quarter valued at $187,000. Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in OPENLANE in the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. Finally, Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in OPENLANE by 19.9% in the 4th quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 15,137 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $300,000 after acquiring an additional 2,512 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

OPENLANE Price Performance

KAR stock opened at $20.70 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.06, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $20.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.01. OPENLANE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.44 and a fifty-two week high of $22.47.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $455.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.64 million. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 6.27%. Research analysts expect that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 EPS for the current year.

About OPENLANE

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.