Loop Capital Upgrades Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) to Strong-Buy

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) was upgraded by equities researchers at Loop Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a report released on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on GPC. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of Genuine Parts to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, November 11th. Wedbush dropped their price objective on Genuine Parts from $145.00 to $120.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com downgraded Genuine Parts from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group lowered their target price on Genuine Parts from $145.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on Genuine Parts from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Genuine Parts has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $141.50.

Genuine Parts Price Performance

Shares of GPC stock opened at $119.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $120.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $130.54. Genuine Parts has a 52-week low of $112.74 and a 52-week high of $164.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.36 and a beta of 0.95.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.42 by ($0.54). The business had revenue of $6 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.94 billion. Genuine Parts had a return on equity of 27.23% and a net margin of 4.67%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.49 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Genuine Parts will post 8.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Genuine Parts news, Director Wendy B. Needham sold 1,608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.78, for a total value of $194,214.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,357 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,371,698.46. The trade was a 12.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its stake in Genuine Parts by 74.0% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 11,311 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,580,000 after acquiring an additional 4,809 shares in the last quarter. Miramar Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 9.8% during the 3rd quarter. Miramar Capital LLC now owns 87,802 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $12,264,000 after purchasing an additional 7,845 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. boosted its position in shares of Genuine Parts by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 261,303 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $36,499,000 after purchasing an additional 19,795 shares in the last quarter. WD Rutherford LLC grew its stake in Genuine Parts by 4,265.9% during the 3rd quarter. WD Rutherford LLC now owns 7,422 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,037,000 after buying an additional 7,252 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Genuine Parts by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 303,676 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $42,417,000 after buying an additional 56,776 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.83% 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.