Federated Hermes Inc. Acquires 11,838 Shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ)

Federated Hermes Inc. grew its holdings in shares of LKQ Co. (NASDAQ:LKQ) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,228,537 shares of the auto parts company’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,838 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in LKQ were worth $58,712,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC bought a new position in LKQ in the 4th quarter worth $5,888,000. River Road Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in LKQ by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 4,690,401 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $224,154,000 after acquiring an additional 114,207 shares during the period. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in LKQ by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC now owns 339,801 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $16,824,000 after acquiring an additional 26,033 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its holdings in LKQ by 369.8% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 456,839 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $21,832,000 after acquiring an additional 359,606 shares during the period. Finally, Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in LKQ by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,071 shares of the auto parts company’s stock worth $202,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 95.63% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Dominick P. Zarcone sold 200,000 shares of LKQ stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.97, for a total transaction of $10,394,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 386,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $20,087,548.34. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on LKQ. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of LKQ from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $66.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $60.00 price target on shares of LKQ in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of LKQ from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, LKQ currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.50.

LKQ Price Performance

Shares of LKQ stock opened at $49.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 1.47. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $51.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.36. LKQ Co. has a twelve month low of $41.49 and a twelve month high of $59.38. The firm has a market cap of $13.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.03 and a beta of 1.28.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The auto parts company reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.08. LKQ had a net margin of 6.75% and a return on equity of 17.24%. The business had revenue of $3.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.52 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that LKQ Co. will post 4.07 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 14th were given a dividend of $0.30 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 13th. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.44%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 34.29%.

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.