Brown Advisory Inc. Invests $43.94 Million in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR)

Brown Advisory Inc. purchased a new position in shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 2,214,781 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $43,941,000. Brown Advisory Inc. owned 2.07% of OPENLANE at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board purchased a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of OPENLANE by 414.6% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,182 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,758 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of OPENLANE by 435.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,535 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 2,062 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of OPENLANE in the fourth quarter valued at $68,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its holdings in OPENLANE by 51.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,314 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $105,000 after purchasing an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. 99.76% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on KAR shares. Stephens upgraded OPENLANE from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research note on Friday, February 28th. StockNews.com raised OPENLANE from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of OPENLANE in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of OPENLANE from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 27th.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE KAR traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $21.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,558,119 shares, compared to its average volume of 729,417. The stock has a market cap of $2.35 billion, a PE ratio of 41.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.32. OPENLANE, Inc. has a one year low of $15.44 and a one year high of $22.47. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $19.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $19.81.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty retailer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $460.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $445.70 million. OPENLANE had a net margin of 6.27% and a return on equity of 9.20%. The firm's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 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.