Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Makes New Investment in LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund bought a new position in LKQ Corporation (NASDAQ:LKQ - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 7,539 shares of the auto parts company's stock, valued at approximately $321,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of LKQ. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in LKQ by 104.8% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 977 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC lifted its position in LKQ by 299.6% in the first quarter. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC now owns 1,135 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 851 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in LKQ by 56.2% in the first quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,971 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 709 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its position in LKQ by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 3,116 shares of the auto parts company's stock valued at $114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,297 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mufg Securities Americas Inc. bought a new stake in LKQ in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $141,000. Institutional investors own 95.63% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on LKQ shares. Wall Street Zen cut LKQ from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 21st. Barrington Research reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $60.00 target price on shares of LKQ in a research note on Monday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, LKQ presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $52.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Justin L. Jude purchased 2,708 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $36.99 per share, for a total transaction of $100,168.92. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 280,777 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,385,941.23. This trade represents a 0.97% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Dominick P. Zarcone sold 15,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $42.15, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.47% of the stock is owned by insiders.

LKQ Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of LKQ traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $37.12. 3,092,339 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,311,585. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.62. LKQ Corporation has a 1 year low of $35.56 and a 1 year high of $46.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.85 and a beta of 0.98. The business's 50-day moving average price is $39.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.47.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The auto parts company reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.79. The company had revenue of $3.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.58 billion. LKQ had a return on equity of 14.66% and a net margin of 4.97%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 6.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that LKQ Corporation will post 3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 29th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.30 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. LKQ's payout ratio is 44.78%.

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.