Foster & Motley Inc. Sells 22,089 Shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Foster & Motley Inc. trimmed its position in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 20.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 87,771 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 22,089 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc.’s holdings in LKQ were worth $4,195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKQ. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in LKQ by 13.7% during the third 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 last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP lifted its position in shares of LKQ by 95.1% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,403,053 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $114,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,225 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of LKQ by 13.4% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,149,362 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $357,182,000 after purchasing an additional 844,188 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd lifted its position in shares of LKQ by 181.2% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 884,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $43,769,000 after purchasing an additional 569,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of LKQ by 5.5% during the third 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 in the last quarter. 95.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of LKQ from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $63.50.

Insider Transactions at LKQ

In other news, CEO Dominick P. Zarcone sold 200,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 386,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,087,548.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

LKQ Trading Down 4.9 %

LKQ opened at $46.51 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $51.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $48.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm has a market cap of $12.41 billion, a PE ratio of 13.98 and a beta of 1.28. LKQ Co. has a twelve month low of $41.49 and a twelve month high of $59.38.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The auto parts company reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.76 billion. LKQ had a return on equity of 17.24% and a net margin of 6.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that LKQ Co. will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio is 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.