Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Buys 82,215 Shares of Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its stake in Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP) by 40.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 283,737 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 82,215 shares during the quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC owned approximately 0.48% of Advance Auto Parts worth $19,946,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Advance Auto Parts by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,970,480 shares of the company’s stock worth $1,442,611,000 after purchasing an additional 261,715 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 28.2% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,431,787 shares of the company’s stock valued at $417,340,000 after acquiring an additional 754,027 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 3,313,689 shares of the company’s stock valued at $685,801,000 after acquiring an additional 114,789 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,423,606 shares of the company’s stock valued at $100,080,000 after acquiring an additional 52,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 10.8% during the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,018,797 shares of the company’s stock valued at $210,850,000 after acquiring an additional 99,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 88.75% of the company’s stock.

Advance Auto Parts Trading Down 5.8 %

Shares of AAP traded down $3.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $50.33. 5,564,465 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,096,858. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.68. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. has a 1 year low of $47.73 and a 1 year high of $158.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.14. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $54.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.47.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 15th. The company reported ($0.82) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.44 by ($2.26). Advance Auto Parts had a net margin of 1.65% and a return on equity of 9.40%. The business had revenue of $2.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.84 earnings per share. Advance Auto Parts’s quarterly revenue was up 2.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Advance Auto Parts, Inc. will post 1.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Advance Auto Parts Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 26th. Investors of record on Friday, January 12th will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, January 11th. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. Advance Auto Parts’s dividend payout ratio is presently 32.05%.

Insider Activity at Advance Auto Parts

In other news, Director Eugene I. Lee, Jr. purchased 8,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $57.65 per share, for a total transaction of $499,825.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 19,430 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,120,139.50. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.63% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on AAP. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Advance Auto Parts from $75.00 to $55.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, October 27th. Evercore ISI decreased their price objective on Advance Auto Parts from $80.00 to $75.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, September 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Advance Auto Parts from $70.00 to $60.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, November 13th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Advance Auto Parts in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on Advance Auto Parts from $84.00 to $70.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nineteen have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.80.

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.