Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Buys Shares of 7,911 LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP purchased a new position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 7,911 shares of the auto parts company’s stock, valued at approximately $378,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Morgan Stanley grew its position in shares of LKQ by 13.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,907,659 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $490,528,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195,122 shares in the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its position in shares of LKQ by 95.1% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 2,403,053 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $114,842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,171,225 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its position in shares of LKQ by 13.4% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,149,362 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $357,182,000 after purchasing an additional 844,188 shares in the last quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd grew its position in shares of LKQ by 181.2% during the third quarter. Qube Research & Technologies Ltd now owns 884,049 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $43,769,000 after purchasing an additional 569,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of LKQ by 5.5% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 10,330,168 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $511,447,000 after purchasing an additional 540,259 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Dominick P. Zarcone sold 200,000 shares of LKQ stock in a transaction on Friday, March 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.97, for a total value of $10,394,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 386,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $20,087,548.34. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.45% of the company’s stock.

LKQ Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of LKQ stock traded up $1.63 on Wednesday, reaching $43.28. 5,642,373 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,692,079. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $11.55 billion, a PE ratio of 12.29 and a beta of 1.28. LKQ Co. has a 52 week low of $41.30 and a 52 week high of $59.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The auto parts company reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.95 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.76 billion. LKQ had a return on equity of 17.24% and a net margin of 6.75%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.04 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that LKQ Co. will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. LKQ’s payout ratio is currently 34.29%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on LKQ shares. Barrington Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $66.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on LKQ from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com lowered LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on LKQ from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $61.60.

LKQ Company Profile

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.