BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC Purchases 97,930 Shares of Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC)

BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC grew its holdings in Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC – Get Rating) by 566.3% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 115,222 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after buying an additional 97,930 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SNC’s holdings in Genuine Parts were worth $17,205,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors bought a new position in shares of Genuine Parts during the first quarter worth approximately $124,130,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 2.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,088,101 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,153,442,000 after purchasing an additional 481,039 shares during the period. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 105.9% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 715,885 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $106,896,000 after purchasing an additional 368,252 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 4.0% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 8,061,113 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,079,211,000 after purchasing an additional 313,090 shares during the period. Finally, Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 14.8% during the third quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,857,081 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $277,299,000 after purchasing an additional 239,186 shares during the period. 78.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Genuine Parts Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GPC opened at $163.80 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $170.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $169.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.15 and a quick ratio of 0.57. Genuine Parts has a 1 year low of $122.90 and a 1 year high of $187.73.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC – Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 23rd. The specialty retailer reported $2.05 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.90 by $0.15. Genuine Parts had a net margin of 5.35% and a return on equity of 32.22%. The firm had revenue of $5.52 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.33 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.79 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Genuine Parts will post 8.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Genuine Parts Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 3rd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 3rd will be given a $0.95 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 2nd. This represents a $3.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.32%. This is a positive change from Genuine Parts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.90. Genuine Parts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.73%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GPC. Wedbush reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Genuine Parts in a report on Friday, February 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Genuine Parts from $147.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial lifted their price objective on shares of Genuine Parts from $170.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $152.20.

About Genuine Parts

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Genuine Parts Co engages in the distribution of automotive and industrial replacement parts. It operates through the following segments: Automotive Parts Group, Industrial Parts Group, and Corporate. The Automotive Parts Group segment distributes replacement parts, other than body parts for substantially all makes and models of automobiles, trucks, and other vehicles.