Short Interest in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) Decreases By 7.6%

LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,030,000 shares, a drop of 7.6% from the September 30th total of 4,360,000 shares. Approximately 1.5% of the company’s shares are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,230,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days.

Institutional Trading of LKQ

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of LKQ by 552.8% in the 2nd quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,236,158 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $51,412,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046,805 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of LKQ by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 11,944,496 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $496,772,000 after acquiring an additional 875,420 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP boosted its holdings in shares of LKQ by 39.8% in the 2nd quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 3,067,772 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $127,589,000 after acquiring an additional 873,665 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of LKQ by 9.5% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 8,220,571 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $438,108,000 after acquiring an additional 712,698 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of LKQ by 230.3% in the 2nd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,011,132 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $42,053,000 after acquiring an additional 705,040 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

LKQ Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of LKQ stock traded down $0.52 on Thursday, reaching $36.79. The stock had a trading volume of 5,032,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,922,332. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.70, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. LKQ has a 1 year low of $35.57 and a 1 year high of $53.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $9.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.73 and a beta of 1.28.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.87 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $3.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.65 billion. LKQ had a net margin of 5.03% and a return on equity of 15.33%. LKQ’s revenue was up .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.86 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that LKQ will post 3.54 EPS for the current year.

LKQ Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.30 per share. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.78%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LKQ has been the topic of several recent research reports. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $59.00 target price on shares of LKQ in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Robert W. Baird dropped their target price on shares of LKQ from $50.00 to $48.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their target price on shares of LKQ from $53.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 25th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of LKQ from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price objective on shares of LKQ in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, LKQ has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $53.80.

About LKQ

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.