LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) Short Interest Update

LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,030,000 shares, a decrease of 7.6% from the September 30th total of 4,360,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 2,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.8 days.

Institutional Trading of LKQ

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of LKQ during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in LKQ during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Allworth Financial LP increased its position in LKQ by 94.2% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 1,010 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of LKQ by 33.5% in the third quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,151 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Cantonale Vaudoise lifted its position in shares of LKQ by 29.8% during the 2nd quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 1,211 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 278 shares in the last quarter. 95.63% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

LKQ Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ LKQ opened at $37.31 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $9.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.11 and a beta of 1.28. LKQ has a twelve month low of $35.57 and a twelve month high of $53.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a 50 day moving average of $39.88 and a 200 day moving average of $41.69.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.65 billion. LKQ had a net margin of 5.03% and a return on equity of 15.33%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.86 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that LKQ will post 3.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 38.96%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

LKQ has been the subject of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on LKQ from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Roth Mkm reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of LKQ in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Robert W. Baird lowered their target price on shares of LKQ from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research note on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded LKQ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $53.80.

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.