Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Reduces Position in Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) by 41.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,170 shares of the company’s stock after selling 4,300 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Advance Auto Parts were worth $292,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. First Hawaiian Bank increased its position in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 19,692 shares of the company’s stock worth $931,000 after acquiring an additional 2,474 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Advance Auto Parts by 198.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,575 shares of the company’s stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 1,047 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in Advance Auto Parts by 207.4% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 541 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Advance Auto Parts in the third quarter valued at about $1,117,000. Finally, Savoie Capital LLC increased its holdings in Advance Auto Parts by 117.2% in the third quarter. Savoie Capital LLC now owns 69,500 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,710,000 after buying an additional 37,500 shares during the last quarter. 88.75% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on Advance Auto Parts from $52.00 to $46.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, November 11th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Advance Auto Parts from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 15th. Roth Capital raised Advance Auto Parts to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Advance Auto Parts from $45.00 to $60.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Advance Auto Parts in a report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “market perform” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $47.93.

Advance Auto Parts Stock Performance

Shares of AAP stock opened at $44.72 on Wednesday. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. has a 12-month low of $35.59 and a 12-month high of $88.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.26 and a beta of 1.16. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $46.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.34 and a quick ratio of 0.62.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.53). The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. Advance Auto Parts had a return on equity of 1.82% and a net margin of 0.41%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.82) earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Advance Auto Parts, Inc. will post -0.54 EPS for the current year.

Advance Auto Parts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.24%. Advance Auto Parts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 136.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Advance Auto Parts news, EVP Tammy M. Finley sold 1,276 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $44.06, for a total value of $56,220.56. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,266 shares in the company, valued at $1,069,159.96. This represents a 5.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Advance Auto Parts Profile

Advance Auto Parts, Inc provides automotive replacement parts, accessories, batteries, and maintenance items for domestic and imported cars, vans, sport utility vehicles, and light and heavy duty trucks. The company offers battery accessories; belts and hoses; brakes and brake pads; chassis and climate control parts; clutches and drive shafts; engines and engine parts; exhaust systems and parts; hub assemblies; ignition components and wires; radiators and cooling parts; starters and alternators; and steering and alignment parts.