OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) Short Interest Update

OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of August. As of August 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,670,000 shares, a growth of 8.3% from the July 31st total of 3,390,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 680,200 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 5.4 days. Currently, 3.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OPENLANE

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KAR. TFO Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of OPENLANE by 16,018.2% during the 4th quarter. TFO Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,773 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 1,762 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in OPENLANE by 175.5% during the second quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 1,598 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its stake in OPENLANE by 201.4% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,375 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 1,587 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new position in OPENLANE in the 2nd quarter worth about $81,000. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the 4th quarter worth about $164,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

Shares of KAR opened at $17.33 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $17.27 and a 200-day moving average of $16.90. The company has a market cap of $1.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.44. OPENLANE has a 1 year low of $12.86 and a 1 year high of $18.73.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The specialty retailer reported $0.19 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $431.80 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $426.11 million. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 7.85% and a net margin of 3.39%. The company’s revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. Analysts predict that OPENLANE will post 0.78 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of OPENLANE in a research note on Thursday, August 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $19.60.

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.