10,170 Shares in LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) Purchased by Curbstone Financial Management Corp

Curbstone Financial Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 10,170 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $433,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CX Institutional acquired a new position in LKQ in the 1st quarter valued at $181,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in LKQ by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 91,223 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $3,881,000 after purchasing an additional 6,988 shares during the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB raised its stake in LKQ by 37.0% in the 1st quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 82,500 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $3,510,000 after purchasing an additional 22,300 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in LKQ by 237.6% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 12,844 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $546,000 after purchasing an additional 9,040 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in LKQ by 73.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 6,768 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 95.63% of the company's stock.

LKQ Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:LKQ traded down $0.34 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $39.04. 1,354,829 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,296,756. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $40.31 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $39.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.71 and a quick ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $10.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.90 and a beta of 0.98. LKQ Co. has a fifty-two week low of $35.56 and a fifty-two week high of $46.64.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.79. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.58 billion. LKQ had a return on equity of 14.93% and a net margin of 4.81%. LKQ's revenue was down 6.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that LKQ Co. will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. LKQ's dividend payout ratio is currently 44.78%.

Insider Activity

In other LKQ news, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 15,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.15, for a total value of $632,250.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 321,135 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,535,840.25. This represents a 4.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Justin L. Jude bought 2,708 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $36.99 per share, for a total transaction of $100,168.92. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 280,777 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,385,941.23. The trade was a 0.97% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on LKQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on LKQ from $48.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Barrington Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $60.00 target price on shares of LKQ in a research note on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded LKQ from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. One equities 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.com, LKQ presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $52.60.

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.