Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Has $2.85 Million Stock Holdings in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,547 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after selling 3,543 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in LKQ were worth $2,846,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Carmel Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of LKQ by 57.2% during the fourth quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC now owns 26,070 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $1,246,000 after acquiring an additional 9,484 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its position in shares of LKQ by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,015,499 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $48,531,000 after acquiring an additional 113,145 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP increased its position in shares of LKQ by 95.1% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,403,053 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $114,842,000 after acquiring an additional 1,171,225 shares in the last quarter. Check Capital Management Inc. CA increased its position in shares of LKQ by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Check Capital Management Inc. CA now owns 1,233,173 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $58,933,000 after acquiring an additional 45,942 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AIA Group Ltd increased its position in shares of LKQ by 103.5% during the fourth quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 12,813 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $612,000 after acquiring an additional 6,516 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at LKQ

In other LKQ news, CEO Dominick P. Zarcone sold 200,000 shares of LKQ stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.97, for a total value of $10,394,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 386,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,087,548.34. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

LKQ Stock Performance

Shares of LKQ traded up $0.54 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $49.12. The stock had a trading volume of 1,506,365 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,034,777. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $51.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $48.36. LKQ Co. has a one year low of $41.49 and a one year high of $59.38. The firm has a market cap of $13.10 billion, a PE ratio of 14.03 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The auto parts company reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $3.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.52 billion. LKQ had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 17.24%. LKQ’s quarterly revenue was up 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.78 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that LKQ Co. will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were paid a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 34.29%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LKQ. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 target price on shares of LKQ in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of LKQ in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of LKQ from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.50.

LKQ Company 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.