Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Purchases 359,606 Shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its position in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 369.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 456,839 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after acquiring an additional 359,606 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank owned 0.17% of LKQ worth $21,832,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of LKQ. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of LKQ by 27.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 36,922 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,677,000 after acquiring an additional 8,002 shares during the last quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 23.3% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 73,041 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $3,317,000 after purchasing an additional 13,792 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 6.6% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 35,882 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,629,000 after purchasing an additional 2,222 shares in the last quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 1.2% in the first quarter. Yousif Capital Management LLC now owns 44,028 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $1,999,000 after purchasing an additional 520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its holdings in shares of LKQ by 25.0% in the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 12,163 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 2,429 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

LKQ has been the subject of a number of research reports. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barrington Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of LKQ in a report on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of LKQ from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, LKQ currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.50.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other LKQ news, CEO Dominick P. Zarcone sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.97, for a total transaction of $10,394,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 386,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,087,548.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.55% of the company’s stock.

LKQ Trading Down 1.1 %

LKQ opened at $47.91 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.69 and a beta of 1.28. LKQ Co. has a 12 month low of $41.49 and a 12 month high of $59.38. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $51.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $48.36. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The auto parts company reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.08. LKQ had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 17.24%. The firm had revenue of $3.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.78 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that LKQ Co. will post 4.08 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.50%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 34.29%.

LKQ 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.