OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) Upgraded to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Thursday.

KAR has been the subject of several other reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Stephens raised shares of OPENLANE from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of OPENLANE in a report on Friday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, OPENLANE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.80.

OPENLANE Trading Down 2.0 %

Shares of KAR opened at $20.61 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.08. OPENLANE has a 1-year low of $15.44 and a 1-year high of $22.47. The company has a market cap of $2.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.89, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.20 by $0.01. OPENLANE had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The company had revenue of $455.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.64 million. As a group, research analysts forecast that OPENLANE will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KAR. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of OPENLANE by 50.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 32,759 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $553,000 after acquiring an additional 11,039 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in OPENLANE by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 545,404 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $9,206,000 after purchasing an additional 133,767 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in OPENLANE in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,440,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of OPENLANE by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,759,952 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $29,708,000 after purchasing an additional 6,469 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its holdings in shares of OPENLANE by 33.3% during the third quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 33,734 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 8,419 shares during the period. 99.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About OPENLANE

OPENLANE, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a digital marketplace for used vehicles, which connects sellers and buyers in North America, Europe, the Philippines, and Uruguay. The company operates through two segments, Marketplace and Finance. The Marketplace segment offers digital marketplace services for buying and selling used vehicles.