Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Has $7.44 Million Position in Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in shares of Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) by 5.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,738 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,554 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Genuine Parts were worth $7,442,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp increased its position in Genuine Parts by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 7,844,189 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,103,300,000 after acquiring an additional 401,180 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Genuine Parts by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 3,296,965 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $458,947,000 after purchasing an additional 32,858 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Genuine Parts by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,743,970 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $383,511,000 after buying an additional 30,354 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Genuine Parts by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,057,593 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $287,405,000 after buying an additional 25,015 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Genuine Parts by 6.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,840,807 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $257,124,000 after buying an additional 114,180 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 78.83% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPC has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Northcoast Research lowered Genuine Parts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Truist Financial upped their price objective 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 shares of Genuine Parts in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $155.00 target price for the company. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of Genuine Parts to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, November 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Genuine Parts from $128.00 to $125.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 19th. Eight 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $137.63.

Insider Buying and Selling at Genuine Parts

In other news, Director Wendy B. Needham sold 1,608 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.78, for a total transaction of $194,214.24. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,357 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,371,698.46. The trade was a 12.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Genuine Parts Price Performance

GPC stock opened at $122.11 on Thursday. Genuine Parts has a 1 year low of $112.74 and a 1 year high of $164.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.95 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s 50-day moving average is $118.59 and its 200-day moving average is $126.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

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. Genuine Parts had a return on equity of 25.28% and a net margin of 3.85%. The firm had revenue of $5.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.71 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Genuine Parts will post 7.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Genuine Parts Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be issued a dividend of $1.03 per share. This is an increase from Genuine Parts’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. Genuine Parts’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.68%.

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.