Cove Street Capital LLC Reduces Stock Position in Advance Auto Parts, Inc. $AAP

Cove Street Capital LLC lowered its position in shares of Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) by 30.0% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 54,436 shares of the company’s stock after selling 23,382 shares during the period. Advance Auto Parts makes up about 3.4% of Cove Street Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Cove Street Capital LLC’s holdings in Advance Auto Parts were worth $2,134,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Stifel Financial Corp raised its holdings in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 27.3% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 13,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 2,955 shares in the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Advance Auto Parts during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $407,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Advance Auto Parts by 27.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 444,743 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,032,000 after buying an additional 95,754 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV bought a new position in Advance Auto Parts in the fourth quarter worth approximately $417,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Advance Auto Parts by 60.5% in the fourth quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 276,788 shares of the company’s stock worth $13,089,000 after buying an additional 104,333 shares in the last quarter. 88.70% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on AAP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Advance Auto Parts from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $48.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised Advance Auto Parts from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $28.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Tuesday, June 3rd. Citigroup set a $60.00 target price on Advance Auto Parts in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. Truist Financial boosted their target price on shares of Advance Auto Parts from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $50.00 price target (up from $40.00) on shares of Advance Auto Parts in a report on Friday, May 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, eighteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Reduce” and a consensus price target of $51.78.

Advance Auto Parts Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NYSE:AAP opened at $58.98 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a current ratio of 1.27 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.26 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50-day moving average is $57.51 and its 200 day moving average is $45.65. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. has a 1 year low of $28.89 and a 1 year high of $70.00.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 14th. The company reported $0.69 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $2.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.97 billion. Advance Auto Parts had a negative return on equity of 1.97% and a negative net margin of 4.37%.The company’s revenue was down 7.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.75 earnings per share. Advance Auto Parts has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.200-2.20 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Advance Auto Parts, Inc. will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Advance Auto Parts Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. Advance Auto Parts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently -15.70%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Jason Hand sold 948 shares of Advance Auto Parts stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.52, for a total transaction of $45,996.96. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 9,876 shares in the company, valued at approximately $479,183.52. The trade was a 8.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.67% of the company’s stock.

About Advance Auto Parts

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.