Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) Earns Market Perform Rating from Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) in a research report report published on Friday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a market perform rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on AAP. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Advance Auto Parts from $60.00 to $43.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of 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. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on shares of Advance Auto Parts from $65.00 to $55.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $38.00 price objective (down previously from $45.00) on shares of Advance Auto Parts in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, UBS Group boosted 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, November 15th. One research 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $48.40.

Advance Auto Parts Price Performance

Advance Auto Parts stock opened at $43.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $2.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 60.08 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $40.24 and its 200 day moving average is $49.92. 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 has a one year low of $35.59 and a one year high of $88.56.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 1.82% and a net margin of 0.41%. The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted ($0.82) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Advance Auto Parts will post -0.54 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 10th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.28%. Advance Auto Parts’s payout ratio is 136.99%.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 24,266 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,069,159.96. This represents a 5.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Advance Auto Parts

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of AAP. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts during the 3rd quarter worth $1,117,000. Savoie Capital LLC increased its holdings in Advance Auto Parts by 117.2% during the third quarter. Savoie Capital LLC now owns 69,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,710,000 after buying an additional 37,500 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd bought a new stake in Advance Auto Parts in the third quarter worth about $503,000. Redwood Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Advance Auto Parts by 26.4% in the third quarter. Redwood Investment Management LLC now owns 10,858 shares of the company’s stock valued at $449,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maple Rock Capital Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Advance Auto Parts during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $9,046,000. 88.75% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.