Advance Auto Parts Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:AAP)

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading activity on Thursday. Traders acquired 45,468 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 314% compared to the average volume of 10,974 call options.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on AAP shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Advance Auto Parts from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $48.00 to $46.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. DA Davidson boosted their price objective on shares of Advance Auto Parts from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Roth Capital set a $50.00 price objective on shares of Advance Auto Parts and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Advance Auto Parts from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday, June 29th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $36.00) on shares of Advance Auto Parts in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.53.

Advance Auto Parts Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:AAP traded up $3.04 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $62.64. The stock had a trading volume of 3,153,601 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,606,545. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $46.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.45. Advance Auto Parts has a 1-year low of $28.89 and a 1-year high of $64.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.67 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 1.27.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.81) by $0.59. Advance Auto Parts had a negative net margin of 3.74% and a negative return on equity of 1.76%. The company had revenue of $2.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.67 earnings per share. Advance Auto Parts's revenue was down 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Advance Auto Parts will post -0.46 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Advance Auto Parts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 11th will be paid a $0.25 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 11th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.60%. Advance Auto Parts's payout ratio is currently -17.04%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction, the senior vice president owned 9,876 shares in the company, valued at approximately $479,183.52. The trade was a 8.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.35% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in AAP. Eminence Capital LP acquired a new position in shares of Advance Auto Parts during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $87,214,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 34.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 6,685,541 shares of the company's stock valued at $316,160,000 after acquiring an additional 1,706,328 shares during the period. Cooper Creek Partners Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Advance Auto Parts during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $75,055,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 2,585.1% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,353,912 shares of the company's stock valued at $64,026,000 after acquiring an additional 1,303,488 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 2,662.0% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,293,205 shares of the company's stock valued at $61,156,000 after acquiring an additional 1,246,384 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.75% 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.