New York State Common Retirement Fund Lowers Position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

New York State Common Retirement Fund lessened its stake in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ - Free Report) by 8.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 906,984 shares of the auto parts company's stock after selling 82,387 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.35% of LKQ worth $33,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in LKQ by 40.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,262 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 653 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd boosted its position in shares of LKQ by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 91,386 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $3,648,000 after purchasing an additional 3,259 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of LKQ by 29.7% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 23,090 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 5,286 shares in the last quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of LKQ by 16.0% during the 3rd quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 257,057 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $10,262,000 after purchasing an additional 35,493 shares during the period. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 94.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,010 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. 95.63% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday. Barrington Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a report on Thursday. Finally, StockNews.com cut LKQ from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $52.60.

LKQ Price Performance

Shares of LKQ traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $41.25. 2,633,581 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,128,122. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. LKQ Co. has a 52-week low of $35.56 and a 52-week high of $53.68. The company has a market cap of $10.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.74 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.77.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The auto parts company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.04. LKQ had a return on equity of 14.93% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.42 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. LKQ's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at LKQ

In other LKQ news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 10,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.66, for a total value of $416,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 359,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,975,186.92. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 20,000 shares of company stock worth $781,500. Corporate insiders own 0.55% of the company's stock.

About LKQ

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.