Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC Grows Holdings in Genuine Parts Company (NYSE:GPC)

Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC raised its position in Genuine Parts Company (NYSE:GPC - Free Report) by 22.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,150 shares of the specialty retailer's stock after purchasing an additional 3,517 shares during the period. Hunter Associates Investment Management LLC's holdings in Genuine Parts were worth $2,280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,362,748 shares of the specialty retailer's stock valued at $391,604,000 after buying an additional 65,783 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Genuine Parts by 18.9% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,262,229 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $380,898,000 after purchasing an additional 518,851 shares during the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Genuine Parts by 21.6% during the fourth quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,502,852 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $292,233,000 after acquiring an additional 445,259 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in Genuine Parts by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,136,214 shares of the specialty retailer's stock worth $249,426,000 after purchasing an additional 104,343 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Genuine Parts in the 4th quarter worth about $206,645,000. 78.83% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPC has been the subject of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "sell" rating and issued a $114.00 price target (down previously from $133.00) on shares of Genuine Parts in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Evercore ISI cut their price target on Genuine Parts from $135.00 to $130.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Genuine Parts from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, April 26th. Truist Financial increased their price objective on Genuine Parts from $133.00 to $137.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Argus upgraded Genuine Parts to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $130.86.

Genuine Parts Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE GPC opened at $126.05 on Thursday. The business's 50-day moving average price is $123.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $120.26. Genuine Parts Company has a 12 month low of $104.01 and a 12 month high of $149.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.49 billion, a PE ratio of 20.70 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $1.75 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.66 by $0.09. Genuine Parts had a return on equity of 23.71% and a net margin of 3.60%. The company had revenue of $5.87 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.83 billion. On average, analysts expect that Genuine Parts Company will post 7.9 EPS for the current year.

Genuine Parts Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were issued a $1.03 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.27%. Genuine Parts's payout ratio is currently 67.65%.

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.

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