DA Davidson Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP)

DA Davidson restated their neutral rating on shares of Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) in a report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $45.00 target price on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on AAP. Roth Capital raised Advance Auto Parts to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on shares of Advance Auto Parts from $52.00 to $46.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 11th. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of Advance Auto Parts from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Advance Auto Parts from $68.00 to $55.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Advance Auto Parts from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Advance Auto Parts presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $49.14.

Advance Auto Parts Price Performance

Shares of AAP opened at $40.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $54.11. Advance Auto Parts has a 1-year low of $35.59 and a 1-year high of $88.56. The company has a market cap of $2.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.93 and a beta of 1.17.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 14th. The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by ($0.53). Advance Auto Parts had a net margin of 0.41% and a return on equity of 1.82%. The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.82) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Advance Auto Parts will post 2.26 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Advance Auto Parts Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 10th will be given a $0.25 dividend. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 10th. Advance Auto Parts’s payout ratio is presently 136.99%.

Institutional Trading of Advance Auto Parts

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 3,998,910 shares of the company’s stock valued at $340,268,000 after purchasing an additional 40,669 shares in the last quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Advance Auto Parts by 140.3% in the third quarter. Pzena Investment Management LLC now owns 2,908,658 shares of the company’s stock valued at $113,409,000 after buying an additional 1,698,155 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in Advance Auto Parts by 67.0% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 1,533,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $130,522,000 after acquiring an additional 615,674 shares during the last quarter. Third Point LLC acquired a new position in Advance Auto Parts during the first quarter worth about $127,234,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 76.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,266,362 shares of the company’s stock worth $80,197,000 after acquiring an additional 547,696 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.75% of the company’s stock.

Advance Auto Parts Company 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.