Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Reduces Position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE lowered its holdings in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 55.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 114,671 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 140,261 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE’s holdings in LKQ were worth $4,214,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of LKQ. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of LKQ by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,449,166 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $457,051,000 after purchasing an additional 134,176 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in LKQ by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 8,406,444 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $309,609,000 after purchasing an additional 833,519 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in LKQ by 0.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,542,740 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $260,330,000 after buying an additional 21,161 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in LKQ by 7.3% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,020,689 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $240,346,000 after buying an additional 411,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in LKQ by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,572,676 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $94,546,000 after buying an additional 84,244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

LKQ Stock Down 0.3 %

LKQ stock opened at $40.78 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $10.57 billion, a PE ratio of 15.56 and a beta of 1.28. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $38.92. LKQ Co. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $53.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The auto parts company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.04. LKQ had a return on equity of 14.93% and a net margin of 4.81%. The company had revenue of $3.36 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.42 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 EPS for the current year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 27th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 13th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.32, for a total transaction of $634,800.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 336,135 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,225,233.20. The trade was a 4.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders sold 35,000 shares of company stock valued at $1,416,300 over the last 90 days. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

LKQ has been the topic of several research reports. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of LKQ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.60.

LKQ 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.