Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.07 EPS

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The specialty retailer reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.07, RTT News reports. Genuine Parts had a net margin of 5.70% and a return on equity of 31.64%. The company had revenue of $5.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .3% compared to the same quarter last year. Genuine Parts updated its FY 2024 guidance to 9.800-9.950 EPS and its FY24 guidance to $9.80-9.90 EPS.

Genuine Parts Trading Up 11.2 %

Shares of NYSE GPC opened at $160.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $22.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.17 and a beta of 0.94. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $149.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $142.22. Genuine Parts has a 52 week low of $126.35 and a 52 week high of $174.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.23.

Genuine Parts Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Investors of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a $1.00 dividend. This is a boost from Genuine Parts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.50%. Genuine Parts’s payout ratio is presently 42.87%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Truist Financial restated a “buy” rating and set a $167.00 price objective on shares of Genuine Parts in a research note on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com upgraded Genuine Parts from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Genuine Parts from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an “in-line” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wedbush restated a “neutral” rating and set a $140.00 price objective on shares of Genuine Parts in a report on Friday, February 16th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.33.

Insider Activity at Genuine Parts

In related news, Director Wendy B. Needham sold 3,250 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $154.92, for a total value of $503,490.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,230,383.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Genuine Parts

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPC. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 buying an additional 481,039 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 2.4% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,189,643 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,209,476,000 after buying an additional 171,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 4.0% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,860,574 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $612,531,000 after buying an additional 185,529 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 1.3% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,977,671 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $497,089,000 after buying an additional 36,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Imprint Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Genuine Parts by 16,507.5% during the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 2,611,194 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $261,119,000 after buying an additional 2,595,471 shares during the last quarter. 78.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.