Blume Capital Management Inc. Boosts Stake in Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC)

Blume Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) by 55.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 698 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 248 shares during the quarter. Blume Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Genuine Parts were worth $81,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 5.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,844,189 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,103,300,000 after purchasing an additional 401,180 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Genuine Parts by 1.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,296,965 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $458,947,000 after buying an additional 32,858 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Genuine Parts by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,889,930 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $337,428,000 after buying an additional 145,960 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp raised its position in Genuine Parts by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,057,593 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $287,405,000 after buying an additional 25,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Genuine Parts by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,840,807 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $257,124,000 after acquiring an additional 114,180 shares during the period. 78.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPC has been the subject of several recent research reports. Northcoast Research cut shares of Genuine Parts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial lifted their price objective on Genuine Parts from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Genuine Parts in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI reduced their price target on Genuine Parts from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $137.63.

Genuine Parts Trading Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:GPC opened at $119.24 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $120.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $125.73. Genuine Parts has a 1 year low of $112.74 and a 1 year high of $164.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty retailer reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.71 billion. Genuine Parts had a net margin of 3.85% and a return on equity of 25.28%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.26 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Genuine Parts will post 7.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Genuine Parts Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is a positive change from Genuine Parts’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. Genuine Parts’s payout ratio is 63.68%.

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.