Planned Solutions Inc. Invests $77,000 in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,610 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in LKQ by 1.3% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,245,966 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,497,478,000 after purchasing an additional 382,054 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in shares of LKQ by 1.8% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 22,373,336 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,303,694,000 after buying an additional 387,486 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of LKQ by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,059,871 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $644,459,000 after buying an additional 464,859 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in LKQ by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,330,168 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $511,447,000 after acquiring an additional 540,259 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in LKQ by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,907,659 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $490,528,000 after acquiring an additional 1,195,122 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on LKQ. StockNews.com cut shares of LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on LKQ from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, LKQ presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dominick P. Zarcone sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.97, for a total transaction of $10,394,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 386,522 shares in the company, valued at $20,087,548.34. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

LKQ Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of LKQ stock opened at $53.15 on Thursday. LKQ Co. has a twelve month low of $41.49 and a twelve month high of $59.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $14.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.19 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $50.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.23.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The auto parts company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $3.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.52 billion. LKQ had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 17.24%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.78 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that LKQ Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 13th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio is currently 34.29%.

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.