Handelsbanken Fonder AB Boosts Holdings in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 38,125 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,600 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in OPENLANE were worth $756,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in KAR. River Road Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of OPENLANE by 15.3% in the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 5,045,087 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $85,161,000 after purchasing an additional 671,104 shares during the period. Clifford Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in OPENLANE in the third quarter worth approximately $10,309,000. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in OPENLANE by 344.7% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 178,964 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $3,022,000 after acquiring an additional 138,720 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in OPENLANE by 32.5% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 545,404 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $9,206,000 after acquiring an additional 133,767 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in OPENLANE in the third quarter worth approximately $1,440,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Stephens upgraded shares of OPENLANE from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Friday. Barrington Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price target on shares of OPENLANE in a research note on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of OPENLANE from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, OPENLANE currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.80.

OPENLANE Trading Up 4.8 %

KAR stock opened at $22.34 on Friday. OPENLANE, Inc. has a twelve month low of $15.13 and a twelve month high of $22.47. The company’s 50 day moving average is $20.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.68. The stock has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.14, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.52.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $455.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $416.64 million. On average, equities research analysts predict that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

OPENLANE Company Profile

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.