OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

Shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $20.99, but opened at $19.61. OPENLANE shares last traded at $19.93, with a volume of 261,125 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

KAR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of OPENLANE from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of OPENLANE in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Stephens raised OPENLANE from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered OPENLANE from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, OPENLANE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.20.

OPENLANE Trading Down 5.2 %

The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $20.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $19.21. The firm has a market cap of $2.13 billion, a PE ratio of 37.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.64 million. Analysts forecast that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of OPENLANE

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 9,278,497 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $184,085,000 after purchasing an additional 153,975 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in OPENLANE by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,475,741 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $41,799,000 after buying an additional 35,214 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the fourth quarter valued at about $43,941,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 0.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,759,952 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $29,708,000 after acquiring an additional 6,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of OPENLANE by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 1,493,988 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $29,641,000 after acquiring an additional 35,164 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

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.