Jennison Associates LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in OPENLANE, Inc. $KAR

Jennison Associates LLC lowered its holdings in shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (NYSE:KAR) by 26.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,903 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 15,695 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in OPENLANE were worth $1,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its position in shares of OPENLANE by 9.0% in the first quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 58,947 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after acquiring an additional 4,880 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of OPENLANE by 2.7% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 531,985 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $10,257,000 after acquiring an additional 13,817 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its position in shares of OPENLANE by 14.6% in the first quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 2,538,477 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $48,942,000 after acquiring an additional 323,696 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of OPENLANE by 19.8% in the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,575 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of OPENLANE in the first quarter valued at approximately $531,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.76% of the company’s stock.

OPENLANE Stock Performance

NYSE:KAR opened at $26.45 on Friday. OPENLANE, Inc. has a one year low of $15.79 and a one year high of $30.93. The stock has a market cap of $2.81 billion, a PE ratio of 35.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $27.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $25.06.

OPENLANE (NYSE:KAR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The specialty retailer reported $0.33 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.09. OPENLANE had a return on equity of 11.65% and a net margin of 8.18%.The firm had revenue of $481.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $453.26 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that OPENLANE, Inc. will post 0.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on KAR. Stephens raised their target price on OPENLANE from $32.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on OPENLANE from $25.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Zacks Research downgraded OPENLANE from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, October 6th. Weiss Ratings downgraded OPENLANE from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Barrington Research raised their target price on OPENLANE from $25.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, OPENLANE has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at OPENLANE

In other OPENLANE news, EVP Charles S. Coleman sold 59,289 shares of the firm’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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP James P. Coyle sold 194,575 shares of the firm’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 directly owned 36,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,029,616.94. This trade represents a 84.08% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 1.51% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

OPENLANE Company 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.