OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) Cut to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Sunday.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on KAR. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 target price on shares of OPENLANE in a research report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, OPENLANE currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.00.

OPENLANE Price Performance

NYSE KAR opened at $20.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 79.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.52. OPENLANE has a 12 month low of $12.86 and a 12 month high of $20.85. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.10.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.22 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $448.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $431.68 million. OPENLANE had a net margin of 4.26% and a return on equity of 8.67%. OPENLANE’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.18 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that OPENLANE will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at OPENLANE

In other OPENLANE news, CFO Brad S. Lakhia bought 4,985 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $20.06 per share, with a total value of $99,999.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,303 shares in the company, valued at $286,918.18. The trade was a 53.50 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of OPENLANE

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of OPENLANE by 15.3% during the 3rd quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 5,045,087 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $85,161,000 after purchasing an additional 671,104 shares in the last quarter. Clifford Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of OPENLANE in the third quarter valued at about $10,309,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in OPENLANE during the 2nd quarter worth about $3,243,000. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in OPENLANE by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,441,923 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $23,922,000 after acquiring an additional 181,130 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its position in OPENLANE by 344.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 178,964 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $3,022,000 after acquiring an additional 138,720 shares in the last quarter. 99.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.