Strs Ohio Purchases New Stake in OPENLANE, Inc. $KAR

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has made a new investment in OPENLANE, Inc., acquiring 41,400 shares valued at approximately $798,000 during the first quarter.
• Insider activity includes significant share sales, with EVP James P. Coyle selling 194,575 shares and EVP Charles S. Coleman selling 59,289 shares, indicating a decrease in their ownership stakes.
• OPENLANE recently reported earnings of $0.33 EPS for the quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, with revenue of $481.70 million, up 11.6% year-over-year.

Strs Ohio acquired a new stake in OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 41,400 shares of the specialty retailer's stock, valued at approximately $798,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in KAR. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the first quarter worth approximately $14,725,000. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in OPENLANE by 7.0% in the first quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 9,925,661 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $191,367,000 after acquiring an additional 647,164 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its position in OPENLANE by 148.1% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 805,461 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $15,980,000 after acquiring an additional 480,804 shares in the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP raised its position in OPENLANE by 11.2% in the first quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP now owns 4,577,285 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $88,250,000 after acquiring an additional 461,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board raised its position in OPENLANE by 137.1% in the first quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 631,165 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $12,169,000 after acquiring an additional 364,986 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.76% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on KAR shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on OPENLANE from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. Stephens increased their price objective on OPENLANE from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on OPENLANE from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Finally, Barrington Research upped their target price on OPENLANE from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $28.75.

OPENLANE Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:KAR traded down $0.21 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $28.68. The stock had a trading volume of 15,224 shares, compared to its average volume of 837,645. OPENLANE, Inc. has a one year low of $15.44 and a one year high of $30.93. The company has a market capitalization of $3.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.78, a PEG ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.38. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $27.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $23.54.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.09. OPENLANE had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 11.65%. The company had revenue of $481.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $453.26 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.19 EPS. OPENLANE's revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other OPENLANE news, EVP Charles S. Coleman sold 59,289 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $27.97, for a total transaction of $1,658,313.33. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 53,474 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,495,667.78. This trade represents a 52.58% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP James P. Coyle sold 194,575 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.94, for a total transaction of $5,436,425.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 36,851 shares in the company, valued at $1,029,616.94. This represents a 84.08% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.32% of the company's stock.

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.