Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Takes Position in Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 186 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $26,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GPC. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 13,732.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,566,474 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $216,675,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,149 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Genuine Parts by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,368,562 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $189,296,000 after purchasing an additional 239,858 shares during the last quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Genuine Parts by 29.6% during the 2nd quarter. D. E. Shaw & Co. Inc. now owns 980,184 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $135,579,000 after purchasing an additional 223,712 shares during the period. Hamlin Capital Management LLC grew its position in Genuine Parts by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. Hamlin Capital Management LLC now owns 591,075 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $82,561,000 after purchasing an additional 64,520 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 14,222.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 584,342 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $81,621,000 after purchasing an additional 580,262 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.83% of the company’s stock.

Genuine Parts Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE GPC opened at $123.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $17.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.94 and a beta of 0.92. Genuine Parts has a 12 month low of $112.74 and a 12 month high of $164.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $131.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.84.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.42 by ($0.54). The company had revenue of $6 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.94 billion. Genuine Parts had a net margin of 4.67% and a return on equity of 27.23%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.49 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Genuine Parts will post 8.09 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Genuine Parts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Genuine Parts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.48%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GPC. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Genuine Parts from $145.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut Genuine Parts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Genuine Parts to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Genuine Parts from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial dropped their price target on shares of Genuine Parts from $164.00 to $129.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $139.57.

Genuine Parts Company Profile

Genuine Parts Company distributes automotive replacement parts, and industrial parts and materials. It operates in two segments: Automotive Parts Group and Industrial Parts Group segments. The company distributes automotive replacement parts for hybrid and electric vehicles, trucks, SUVs, buses, motorcycles, recreational vehicles, farm vehicles, small engines, farm equipment, marine equipment, and heavy duty equipment; and equipment and parts used by repair shops, service stations, fleet operators, automobile and truck dealers, leasing companies, bus and truck lines, mass merchandisers, farms, and individuals.