Stephens Upgrades OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) to Overweight

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Stephens from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Friday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm currently has a $26.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their prior price target of $20.00. Stephens’ price target suggests a potential upside of 22.21% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also weighed in on KAR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. StockNews.com cut OPENLANE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Finally, Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price objective on shares of OPENLANE in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, OPENLANE currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.80.

OPENLANE Trading Down 0.6 %

KAR stock opened at $21.28 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $20.45 and its 200 day moving average is $18.66. The stock has a market cap of $2.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.52. OPENLANE has a 1-year low of $14.94 and a 1-year high of $21.93.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $455.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.64 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that OPENLANE will post 0.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On OPENLANE

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Clifford Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in OPENLANE in the third quarter worth $10,309,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of OPENLANE by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,475,741 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $41,799,000 after buying an additional 35,214 shares during the period. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of OPENLANE by 344.7% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 178,964 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,022,000 after buying an additional 138,720 shares during the period. Guidance Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of OPENLANE in the 4th quarter worth about $472,000. Finally, River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its position in 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 valued at $85,161,000 after acquiring an additional 671,104 shares during the period. 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.