ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Reduces Stake in Genuine Parts Company $GPC

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. lowered its position in Genuine Parts Company (NYSE:GPC) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 23,068 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock after selling 900 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Genuine Parts were worth $2,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in shares of Genuine Parts by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 4,636 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $562,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. raised its position in shares of Genuine Parts by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 1,541 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $187,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Genuine Parts by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Oak Asset Management LLC now owns 13,462 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,633,000 after acquiring an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Genuine Parts by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 1,996 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $238,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. raised its position in shares of Genuine Parts by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. now owns 3,376 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $402,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GPC. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Genuine Parts from $134.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Genuine Parts from $148.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Loop Capital raised their price objective on Genuine Parts from $155.00 to $160.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Genuine Parts in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price objective on Genuine Parts from $137.00 to $143.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $138.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Genuine Parts news, EVP Naveen Krishna sold 5,303 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $138.12, for a total transaction of $732,450.36. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 26,112 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,606,589.44. This trade represents a 16.88% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.42% of the company’s stock.

Genuine Parts Stock Performance

Shares of GPC opened at $139.81 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $137.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $126.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.79. Genuine Parts Company has a 12 month low of $104.01 and a 12 month high of $144.29. The company has a market cap of $19.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06 and a beta of 0.77.

Genuine Parts (NYSE:GPC) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The specialty retailer reported $2.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.08 by $0.02. Genuine Parts had a return on equity of 22.41% and a net margin of 3.40%.The business had revenue of $6.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.44 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 3.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Genuine Parts has set its FY 2025 guidance at 7.500-8.000 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Genuine Parts Company will post 7.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Genuine Parts Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a dividend of $1.03 per share. This represents a $4.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. Genuine Parts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.91%.

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.