OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) Upgraded at StockNews.com

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) was upgraded by stock analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

KAR has been the topic of several other research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on OPENLANE from $21.00 to $23.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. Barrington Research restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $25.00 price objective on shares of OPENLANE in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Stephens raised OPENLANE from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $20.00 to $26.00 in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, OPENLANE presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.80.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

KAR opened at $20.62 on Thursday. OPENLANE has a 52-week low of $15.44 and a 52-week high of $22.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.20 billion, a PE ratio of 38.91, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.53. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.11.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 19th. The specialty retailer reported $0.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $455.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $416.64 million. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 9.20% and a net margin of 6.27%. On average, research analysts forecast that OPENLANE will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On OPENLANE

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in KAR. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in OPENLANE during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quarry LP grew its position in OPENLANE by 414.6% during the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 2,182 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $43,000 after buying an additional 1,758 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in OPENLANE by 435.9% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,535 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 2,062 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in OPENLANE during the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. Finally, KBC Group NV grew its position in OPENLANE by 51.1% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 5,314 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $105,000 after buying an additional 1,798 shares in the last quarter. 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.