Principal Financial Group Inc. Acquires 13,817 Shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR)

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR - Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 531,985 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 13,817 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.50% of OPENLANE worth $10,257,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KAR. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of OPENLANE by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 13,268 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $263,000 after acquiring an additional 1,161 shares during the period. Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in OPENLANE by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 126,451 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $2,509,000 after purchasing an additional 1,339 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in OPENLANE in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of OPENLANE by 414.6% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,182 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 1,758 shares during the period. Finally, Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its position in shares of OPENLANE by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 13,092 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $260,000 after buying an additional 1,765 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on KAR. Wall Street Zen raised OPENLANE from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered OPENLANE from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $23.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on OPENLANE from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, OPENLANE currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $24.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP James P. Coyle sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $21.72, for a total value of $152,040.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 36,511 shares in the company, valued at approximately $793,018.92. The trade was a 16.09% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.51% of the company's stock.

OPENLANE Trading Up 0.1%

NYSE:KAR traded up $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $25.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 70,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 757,103. OPENLANE, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $15.44 and a fifty-two week high of $26.04. The company has a market capitalization of $2.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $23.06 and a 200-day moving average of $21.09.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The specialty retailer reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $460.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $445.70 million. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 7.15%. The company's revenue was up 7.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.19 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

OPENLANE Company 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.