Weiss Ratings Upgrades OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) to "Buy (B-)"

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR - Get Free Report) was upgraded by research analysts at Weiss Ratings from a "hold (c+)" rating to a "buy (b-)" rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of OPENLANE from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, June 16th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of OPENLANE from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of OPENLANE from $22.00 to $25.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 7th. Barrington Research lifted their price target on shares of OPENLANE from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Stephens lifted their price target on shares of OPENLANE from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $28.75.

OPENLANE Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:KAR opened at $27.44 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $28.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $24.11. OPENLANE has a twelve month low of $15.44 and a twelve month high of $30.93. The company has a market capitalization of $2.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.33.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. The business had revenue of $481.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $453.26 million. OPENLANE had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 11.65%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.19 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that OPENLANE will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at OPENLANE

In related news, EVP Charles S. Coleman sold 59,289 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.97, for a total transaction of $1,658,313.33. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 53,474 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,667.78. This represents a 52.58% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP James P. Coyle sold 194,575 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.94, for a total value of $5,436,425.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 36,851 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,029,616.94. This represents a 84.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.51% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OPENLANE

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of OPENLANE by 3.8% during the second quarter. Burgundy Asset Management Ltd. now owns 10,306,027 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $251,982,000 after acquiring an additional 380,366 shares during the last quarter. Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP raised its position in shares of OPENLANE by 11.2% during 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of OPENLANE by 2.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 4,140,043 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $101,224,000 after acquiring an additional 110,841 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in OPENLANE by 4.9% during the second quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,662,789 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $65,105,000 after purchasing an additional 124,312 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in OPENLANE by 0.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,516,983 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $61,548,000 after purchasing an additional 9,216 shares during the period. 99.76% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.

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