Karooooo (NASDAQ:KARO) Hits New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Karooooo Ltd. (NASDAQ:KARO) reached a new 52-week high on Friday . The company traded as high as $66.23 and last traded at $64.2790, with a volume of 14552 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $64.03.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

KARO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Karooooo in a report on Friday, April 24th. Freedom Capital cut shares of Karooooo from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Raymond James Financial increased their price target on shares of Karooooo from $60.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Karooooo from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, June 21st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Karooooo from $60.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and one has given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $73.50.

Karooooo Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $2.00 billion, a PE ratio of 33.14 and a beta of 0.89. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $53.10 and its two-hundred day moving average is $49.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15, a quick ratio of 1.01 and a current ratio of 1.02.

Karooooo (NASDAQ:KARO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 16th. The company reported $0.59 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $96.26 million for the quarter. Karooooo had a net margin of 17.74% and a return on equity of 32.03%. As a group, research analysts predict that Karooooo Ltd. will post 2.41 earnings per share for the current year.

Karooooo Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared an annual dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 27th. Investors of record on Friday, July 17th were issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is an increase from Karooooo’s previous annual dividend of $1.25. This represents a dividend yield of 239.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 17th. Karooooo’s dividend payout ratio is 76.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Isaias Jose Calisto sold 18,630 shares of Karooooo stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.47, for a total value of $1,182,446.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 17,819,482 shares in the company, valued at $1,131,002,522.54. The trade was a 0.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders have sold a total of 98,476 shares of company stock valued at $6,295,981 in the last three months. 74.73% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Karooooo

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in KARO. Fideuram Asset Management Ireland dac acquired a new position in shares of Karooooo in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in Karooooo by 852.9% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,954 shares of the company’s stock worth $135,000 after acquiring an additional 2,644 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in Karooooo in the 2nd quarter valued at $156,000. New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its holdings in Karooooo by 465.6% in the 2nd quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 3,258 shares of the company’s stock valued at $160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury purchased a new position in shares of Karooooo during the 2nd quarter worth $214,000.

Karooooo Company Profile

Karooooo Ltd is a global provider of telematics software-as-a-service solutions for vehicle and fleet management. Through its flagship platform, the company delivers real-time GPS tracking, stolen vehicle recovery and driver behaviour analytics, enabling commercial fleets and automotive insurers to optimise operations, increase safety and reduce costs.

Karooooo’s SaaS platform integrates proprietary hardware devices with cloud-based analytics and mobile applications. Customers gain access to live vehicle location data, engine diagnostics, route planning tools and customizable reporting dashboards.