LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) Shares Bought by Skylands Capital LLC

Skylands Capital LLC raised its stake in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ - Free Report) by 107.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 72,050 shares of the auto parts company's stock after purchasing an additional 37,250 shares during the period. Skylands Capital LLC's holdings in LKQ were worth $2,648,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in LKQ by 112.9% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 42,563 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $1,564,000 after purchasing an additional 22,575 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of LKQ by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,406,444 shares of the auto parts company's stock worth $309,609,000 after buying an additional 833,519 shares during the last quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group purchased a new stake in shares of LKQ during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $634,000. Quantbot Technologies LP boosted its holdings in shares of LKQ by 27,310.6% in the 3rd quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 64,415 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $2,571,000 after buying an additional 64,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd grew its position in shares of LKQ by 28.5% in the 4th quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 833,015 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $30,613,000 after buying an additional 184,710 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.63% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LKQ news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.14, for a total value of $180,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 369,462 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,352,356.68. This trade represents a 1.34 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 20,000 shares of company stock worth $781,500. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barrington Research restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com lowered LKQ from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $52.60.

LKQ Stock Performance

LKQ stock traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $41.87. 3,539,218 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,201,911. The firm has a market cap of $10.85 billion, a PE ratio of 15.98 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a current ratio of 1.71. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $37.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.81. LKQ Co. has a twelve month low of $35.56 and a twelve month high of $53.68.

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

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 13th. LKQ's dividend payout ratio is presently 45.80%.

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.