Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Call Options on Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP)

Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock traders bought 45,468 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 314% compared to the typical daily volume of 10,974 call options.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on AAP shares. Redburn Atlantic raised Advance Auto Parts from a "sell" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $28.00 to $45.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $50.00 price objective (up previously from $40.00) on shares of Advance Auto Parts in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered Advance Auto Parts from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Sunday, June 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Advance Auto Parts from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $35.00 price objective on Advance Auto Parts and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Advance Auto Parts news, SVP Jason Hand sold 948 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.52, for a total transaction of $45,996.96. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 9,876 shares in the company, valued at $479,183.52. This represents a 8.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.35% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Advance Auto Parts

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of AAP. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 189.0% in the first quarter. Hexagon Capital Partners LLC now owns 711 shares of the company's stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 355.8% in the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 939 shares of the company's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 733 shares during the period. Advisory Services Network LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Financial Management Professionals Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts in the first quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 1,258.8% in the first quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 2,310 shares of the company's stock valued at $91,000 after purchasing an additional 2,140 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 88.75% of the company's stock.

Advance Auto Parts Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of AAP stock traded up $0.81 on Thursday, reaching $59.18. 2,373,910 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,589,234. The stock has a market cap of $3.55 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.07 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 1.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $44.99 and a two-hundred day moving average of $42.21. Advance Auto Parts has a 1-year low of $28.89 and a 1-year high of $64.92.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 22nd. The company reported ($0.22) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.81) by $0.59. Advance Auto Parts had a negative return on equity of 1.76% and a negative net margin of 3.74%. The business had revenue of $2.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Advance Auto Parts will post -0.46 EPS for the current year.

Advance Auto Parts Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 11th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.69%. Advance Auto Parts's payout ratio is -17.04%.

Advance Auto Parts Company Profile

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.

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