LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) to Issue $0.30 Quarterly Dividend

LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 23rd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of 0.30 per share by the auto parts company on Thursday, May 30th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%.

LKQ has a dividend payout ratio of 26.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect LKQ to earn $4.49 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.20 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 26.7%.

LKQ Stock Performance

NASDAQ LKQ opened at $48.93 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $51.21 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.36. LKQ has a 1 year low of $41.49 and a 1 year high of $59.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.98 and a beta of 1.28.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Dominick P. Zarcone sold 200,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.97, for a total transaction of $10,394,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 386,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $20,087,548.34. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.45% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of LKQ from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. StockNews.com lowered shares of LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.50.

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.