Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Acquires 1,336 Shares of Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in Advance Auto Parts, Inc. (NYSE:AAP – Get Rating) by 7.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,502 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,336 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Advance Auto Parts were worth $2,892,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts in the first quarter worth about $232,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Advance Auto Parts by 21.9% during the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 16,965 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,511,000 after purchasing an additional 3,046 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS raised its position in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 5.5% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 8,343 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,727,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the period. Cibc World Market Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 120.6% in the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 11,593 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,399,000 after buying an additional 6,338 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Advance Auto Parts by 14.4% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 4,620 shares of the company’s stock worth $956,000 after buying an additional 582 shares during the period. 96.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AAP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim lowered shares of Advance Auto Parts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 17th. UBS Group downgraded Advance Auto Parts from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $230.00 to $182.00 in a research note on Wednesday, November 16th. Roth Capital reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $140.00 price target (down from $180.00) on shares of Advance Auto Parts in a research report on Monday, February 13th. DA Davidson reduced their price objective on Advance Auto Parts from $170.00 to $142.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Advance Auto Parts to $160.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Advance Auto Parts currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $166.89.

Advance Auto Parts Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE AAP opened at $128.04 on Friday. Advance Auto Parts, Inc. has a 1-year low of $127.48 and a 1-year high of $231.43. The company has a market capitalization of $7.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.12. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $147.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $158.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.44.

Advance Auto Parts (NYSE:AAP – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 28th. The company reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.41 by $0.47. Advance Auto Parts had a return on equity of 28.53% and a net margin of 4.50%. The business had revenue of $2.47 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.07 EPS. Advance Auto Parts’s quarterly revenue was up 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Advance Auto Parts, Inc. will post 10.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Advance Auto Parts Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 28th. Investors of record on Friday, April 14th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 13th. Advance Auto Parts’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.55%.

About Advance Auto Parts

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Advance Auto Parts, Inc engages in the supply and distribution of aftermarket automotive products for both professional installers and do-it-yourself customers. It operates through the following segments: Northern Division, Southern Division, Carquest Canada, Independents and Worldpac. Advance Auto Parts offers replacement parts, performance parts, accessories, oil and fluids, engine parts, brakes, batteries, accessories, and tools and garage.