OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) Sees Significant Drop in Short Interest

OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) was the recipient of a large drop in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 4,020,000 shares, a drop of 7.6% from the October 15th total of 4,350,000 shares. Currently, 3.8% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 648,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 6.2 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of OPENLANE in a report on Monday, November 4th.

Insider Activity at OPENLANE

In other news, CFO Brad S. Lakhia purchased 4,985 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $20.06 per share, with a total value of $99,999.10. Following the acquisition, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,303 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $286,918.18. This trade represents a 53.50 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.32% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OPENLANE

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of KAR. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its position in shares of OPENLANE by 175.5% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,598 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its position in shares of OPENLANE by 201.4% during the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,375 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 1,587 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $81,000. Creative Planning acquired a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $193,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $204,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE Trading Up 1.5 %

KAR opened at $19.86 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.12 billion, a PE ratio of 76.39, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.44. OPENLANE has a 1-year low of $12.86 and a 1-year high of $20.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $16.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $17.05.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.04. OPENLANE had a net margin of 4.26% and a return on equity of 8.67%. The firm had revenue of $448.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $431.68 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.18 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that OPENLANE will post 0.85 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.