Franklin Resources Inc. Has $21.56 Million Position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 13.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 586,700 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 67,468 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in LKQ were worth $21,561,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cromwell Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of LKQ by 81.0% in the fourth quarter. Cromwell Holdings LLC now owns 742 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 332 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its holdings in LKQ by 618.0% in the 4th quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 1,673 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 1,440 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of LKQ during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $81,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 107.8% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 2,099 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,847 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $105,000 after purchasing an additional 585 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on LKQ shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of LKQ in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised LKQ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $52.60.

LKQ Stock Down 2.1 %

NASDAQ LKQ opened at $41.29 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.68 billion, a PE ratio of 15.76 and a beta of 1.09. LKQ Co. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $52.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The auto parts company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.42 billion. Equities analysts expect that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 27th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 13th were issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 13th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other LKQ news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 359,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,975,186.92. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders sold a total of 45,000 shares of company stock worth $1,864,350 in the last three months. 0.55% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.