Griffin Asset Management Inc. Sells 110 Shares of Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC)

Griffin Asset Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,163 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 110 shares during the period. Griffin Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Genuine Parts were worth $1,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GPC. NBC Securities Inc. increased its stake in Genuine Parts by 27.1% in the fourth quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 3,129 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $433,000 after acquiring an additional 668 shares during the period. ICW Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. ICW Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,084 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,120,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its position in shares of Genuine Parts by 22.0% during the 4th quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 148,121 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $20,515,000 after buying an additional 26,710 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Genuine Parts by 27.0% during the 4th 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. Finally, Conning Inc. grew its position in Genuine Parts by 5.9% in the fourth quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 227,942 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $31,501,000 after acquiring an additional 12,634 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.83% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GPC has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Genuine Parts from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Genuine Parts from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Genuine Parts from $160.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Thursday, June 20th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $170.00 target price (up from $140.00) on shares of Genuine Parts in a report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Genuine Parts from $167.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Genuine Parts currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $169.63.

Genuine Parts Stock Performance

Shares of Genuine Parts stock opened at $138.32 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $148.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $146.53. Genuine Parts has a fifty-two week low of $126.35 and a fifty-two week high of $170.57. The firm has a market cap of $19.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.42 and a beta of 0.92.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The specialty retailer reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.07. Genuine Parts had a return on equity of 30.92% and a net margin of 5.46%. The company had revenue of $5.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.14 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Genuine Parts will post 9.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Genuine Parts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Genuine Parts’s payout ratio is presently 44.59%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Wendy B. Needham sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.29, for a total value of $453,870.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,006 shares in the company, valued at $1,967,677.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.