OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) Short Interest Up 33.1% in April

OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR - Get Free Report) saw a large increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 15th, there was short interest totalling 5,470,000 shares, an increase of 33.1% from the March 31st total of 4,110,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 839,400 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 6.5 days. Currently, 5.2% of the company's shares are short sold.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

Shares of KAR stock traded up $2.58 on Thursday, hitting $21.75. The stock had a trading volume of 2,474,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 724,020. OPENLANE has a 52-week low of $15.44 and a 52-week high of $22.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.32. The stock's 50 day moving average is $19.55 and its 200-day moving average is $19.74.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of OPENLANE from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $23.00 to $20.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Stephens raised shares of 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. Barrington Research reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $25.00 price target on shares of OPENLANE in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, StockNews.com cut OPENLANE from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, March 28th.

Institutional Trading of OPENLANE

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in OPENLANE by 75.2% during the 1st quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 26,520 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $511,000 after acquiring an additional 11,383 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd lifted its holdings in OPENLANE by 224.0% during the 1st quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 74,984 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $1,446,000 after buying an additional 51,842 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of OPENLANE in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,331,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in shares of OPENLANE during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,242,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in OPENLANE by 13.6% in the first quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 20,377 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $393,000 after purchasing an additional 2,437 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.76% of the company's stock.

About OPENLANE

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.