Virtu Financial LLC Buys New Stake in Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC)

Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new stake in Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 11,434 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock, valued at approximately $1,582,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Genuine Parts during the fourth quarter worth about $215,643,000. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in Genuine Parts by 13,732.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,566,474 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $216,675,000 after buying an additional 1,555,149 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in Genuine Parts by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,029,388 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $281,078,000 after buying an additional 431,623 shares during the period. DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its stake in Genuine Parts by 3,029.9% in the first quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC now owns 380,631 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $58,999,000 after buying an additional 368,470 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 161.2% in the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 578,555 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $80,066,000 after acquiring an additional 357,091 shares during the period. 78.83% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPC has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Genuine Parts from $165.00 to $150.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Genuine Parts from $150.00 to $148.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of Genuine Parts from $166.00 to $162.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Truist Financial reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $164.00 target price on shares of Genuine Parts in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Genuine Parts from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, September 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $161.14.

Genuine Parts Stock Performance

Shares of GPC opened at $137.28 on Wednesday. Genuine Parts has a 1 year low of $126.35 and a 1 year high of $164.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.30 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 1.12. The company’s fifty day moving average is $139.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.59.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The specialty retailer reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $5.96 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.03 billion. Genuine Parts had a return on equity of 30.03% and a net margin of 5.24%. The company’s revenue was up .8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.44 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Genuine Parts will post 9.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Genuine Parts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Genuine Parts’s dividend payout ratio is currently 44.59%.

About Genuine Parts

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.