Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) Position Cut by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund trimmed its holdings in Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) by 55.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 38,170 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 47,172 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Genuine Parts were worth $5,287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Genuine Parts by 71.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,590,036 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $373,949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,076,361 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Genuine Parts by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,521,786 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $345,130,000 after purchasing an additional 367,665 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Genuine Parts by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,633,941 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $235,916,000 after purchasing an additional 313,438 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 1,597,765 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $230,687,000 after acquiring an additional 31,155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 1,491,923 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $215,404,000 after acquiring an additional 61,764 shares in the last quarter. 78.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised Genuine Parts from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Truist Financial raised their price objective on Genuine Parts from $167.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Wedbush reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $170.00 price objective (up from $140.00) on shares of Genuine Parts in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Genuine Parts from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their target price on Genuine Parts from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $173.10.

Genuine Parts Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPC opened at $163.36 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Genuine Parts has a 1 year low of $126.35 and a 1 year high of $174.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.62. The firm has a market cap of $22.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21 and a beta of 0.94.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 18th. The specialty retailer reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.84 billion. Genuine Parts had a return on equity of 30.92% and a net margin of 5.46%. The firm’s revenue was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.14 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Genuine Parts will post 9.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Genuine Parts Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This is a boost from Genuine Parts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.45%. Genuine Parts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 44.59%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Genuine Parts news, Director Wendy B. Needham sold 3,250 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $154.92, for a total transaction of $503,490.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 14,397 shares in the company, valued at $2,230,383.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

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.