Genuine Parts’ (GPC) “Neutral” Rating Reaffirmed at Wedbush

Wedbush reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) in a research note published on Friday, Benzinga reports. Wedbush currently has a $170.00 price target on the specialty retailer’s stock, up from their prior price target of $140.00. Wedbush also issued estimates for Genuine Parts’ Q3 2024 earnings at $2.64 EPS, FY2024 earnings at $9.88 EPS, Q1 2025 earnings at $2.34 EPS, Q2 2025 earnings at $2.73 EPS, Q3 2025 earnings at $2.83 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.65 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $11.33 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on Genuine Parts from $160.00 to $155.00 and set an in-line rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Truist Financial increased their price target on Genuine Parts from $167.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com raised Genuine Parts from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $173.10.

Genuine Parts Stock Performance

NYSE:GPC opened at $162.39 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $150.30 and its 200 day moving average is $142.34. Genuine Parts has a fifty-two week low of $126.35 and a fifty-two week high of $174.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.64 billion, a PE ratio of 18.10 and a beta of 0.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 1.14.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 18th. The specialty retailer reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $5.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.84 billion. Genuine Parts had a return on equity of 30.92% and a net margin of 5.46%. Genuine Parts’s quarterly revenue was up .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.14 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Genuine Parts will post 9.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Genuine Parts Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were issued a $1.00 dividend. This is a positive change from Genuine Parts’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.95. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 29th. Genuine Parts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 44.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Genuine Parts

In other Genuine Parts news, Director Wendy B. Needham sold 3,250 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now directly owns 14,397 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,230,383.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Genuine Parts

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GPC. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 2.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 17,088,101 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $2,153,442,000 after acquiring an additional 481,039 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 2.4% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,189,643 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,209,476,000 after acquiring an additional 171,000 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 4.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 185,529 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 1.3% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 2,977,671 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $497,089,000 after acquiring an additional 36,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Imprint Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 16,507.5% in the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 2,611,194 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $261,119,000 after acquiring an additional 2,595,471 shares during the last quarter. 78.83% of the stock is 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.