OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) Raised to “Buy” at StockNews.com

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued on Saturday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on KAR. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 target price on shares of OPENLANE in a report on Monday, November 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

Shares of KAR opened at $19.78 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $19.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $17.88. The firm has a market cap of $2.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 76.08, a PEG ratio of 2.04 and a beta of 1.52. OPENLANE has a twelve month low of $12.86 and a twelve month high of $20.85.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.26 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.22 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $448.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $431.68 million. OPENLANE had a net margin of 4.26% and a return on equity of 8.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.18 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that OPENLANE will post 0.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at OPENLANE

In other news, CFO Brad S. Lakhia purchased 4,985 shares of OPENLANE stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $20.06 per share, with a total value of $99,999.10. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 14,303 shares in the company, valued at approximately $286,918.18. This trade represents a 53.50 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.32% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in OPENLANE by 0.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,143,903 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $118,517,000 after acquiring an additional 50,773 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in shares of OPENLANE in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $3,243,000. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $583,000. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $204,000. Finally, Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its position 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 in the last quarter. 99.76% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.