Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Boosts Position in LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 617.5% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 62,232 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 53,559 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in LKQ were worth $2,647,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in LKQ by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,591,553 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $241,643,000 after purchasing an additional 48,813 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in LKQ by 26.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 5,571,136 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $204,739,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,481 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in LKQ by 25.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 5,231,940 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $192,268,000 after purchasing an additional 1,053,001 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in LKQ in the fourth quarter worth $165,548,000. Finally, EdgePoint Investment Group Inc. purchased a new stake in LKQ in the fourth quarter worth $160,339,000. 95.63% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on LKQ. Robert W. Baird reduced their price target on LKQ from $48.00 to $42.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen cut LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of LKQ in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.40.

LKQ Trading Down 3.2%

NASDAQ LKQ opened at $30.47 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $7.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.16 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. LKQ Corporation has a 12 month low of $30.06 and a 12 month high of $44.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $38.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.48.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by ($0.06). The business had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.62 billion. LKQ had a net margin of 5.04% and a return on equity of 13.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.98 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that LKQ Corporation will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 14th. LKQ’s payout ratio is currently 43.96%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.02, for a total transaction of $190,100.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 316,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,019,452.70. This represents a 1.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.47% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.