Planned Solutions Inc. Makes New $77,000 Investment in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Planned Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,610 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $77,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in LKQ by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 30,245,966 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,497,478,000 after acquiring an additional 382,054 shares during the last quarter. 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 worth $1,303,694,000 after purchasing an additional 387,486 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in LKQ by 4.4% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,059,871 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $644,459,000 after purchasing an additional 464,859 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised 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 purchasing an additional 540,259 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in LKQ by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,907,659 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $490,528,000 after buying an additional 1,195,122 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

LKQ Stock Performance

NASDAQ LKQ opened at $53.15 on Thursday. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $48.23. LKQ Co. has a 12-month low of $41.49 and a 12-month high of $59.38. The company has a market cap of $14.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.19 and a beta of 1.29.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 22nd. The auto parts company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 17.24% and a net margin of 6.75%. The business’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that LKQ Co. will post 4.06 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Dominick P. Zarcone sold 200,000 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 386,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,087,548.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

LKQ 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.