Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Sells 2,667 Shares of Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lessened its stake in shares of Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) by 46.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,130 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 2,667 shares during the quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Genuine Parts were worth $365,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GPC. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Genuine Parts in the 4th quarter valued at $206,645,000. Equity Investment Corp bought a new stake in shares of Genuine Parts during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,128,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Genuine Parts in the fourth quarter valued at $57,407,000. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Genuine Parts by 5.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,844,189 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,103,300,000 after buying an additional 401,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 1,038.4% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 277,802 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $38,803,000 after buying an additional 253,400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GPC has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Genuine Parts from $129.00 to $133.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Loop Capital assumed coverage on Genuine Parts in a research report on Thursday, January 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. Northcoast Research cut Genuine Parts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Genuine Parts from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 19th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $137.63.

Genuine Parts Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:GPC opened at $119.27 on Tuesday. Genuine Parts has a 12 month low of $112.74 and a 12 month high of $164.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $121.14 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $123.88. The firm has a market cap of $16.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.43 and a beta of 0.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 18th. The specialty retailer reported $1.61 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.71 billion. Genuine Parts had a return on equity of 25.28% and a net margin of 3.85%. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.26 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Genuine Parts will post 7.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Genuine Parts Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $1.03 dividend. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, March 7th. This is a positive change from Genuine Parts’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Genuine Parts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 63.68%.

Genuine Parts Company Profile

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.