Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its stake in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 511,952 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 22,188 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in OPENLANE were worth $8,642,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of KAR. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. increased its holdings in OPENLANE by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 8,921,967 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $148,015,000 after purchasing an additional 146,266 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in OPENLANE by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,143,903 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $118,517,000 after purchasing an additional 50,773 shares during the period. River Road Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in OPENLANE by 15.3% during the 3rd 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. Invenomic Capital Management LP increased its holdings in OPENLANE by 277.0% during the 1st quarter. Invenomic Capital Management LP now owns 1,529,680 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $26,463,000 after purchasing an additional 1,123,953 shares during the period. Finally, D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in OPENLANE by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 1,441,923 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $23,922,000 after purchasing an additional 181,130 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of OPENLANE in a report on Monday, November 4th.

Insider Transactions at OPENLANE

In related news, CFO Brad S. Lakhia purchased 4,985 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $20.06 per share, with a total value of $99,999.10. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,303 shares in the company, valued at $286,918.18. This trade represents a 53.50 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

OPENLANE stock opened at $19.87 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $16.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $17.05. OPENLANE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $12.86 and a fifty-two week high of $20.45. The stock has a market cap of $2.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 76.43, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.44.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.26 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.04. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 8.67% and a net margin of 4.26%. The firm had revenue of $448.00 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $431.68 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.18 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

OPENLANE 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.