Topic: How To Invest

Dividend Advisor Hotline – Friday, July 28, 2017

Article Excerpt

GENUINE PARTS CO., $83.93, New York symbol GPC, sells replacement auto parts through 1,100 outlets under the NAPA banner; its distribution business serves 4,900 independent stores in North America, Australia and New Zealand. Genuine also distributes industrial parts, office products and electrical equipment. The company increased its quarterly dividend by 2.7% starting with the April 2017 payment. Shareholders now receive $0.675 a share, up from $0.6575. The new annual rate of $2.70 yields 3.2%. Genuine has now increased that rate annually for the past 61 years. The company has a long history of fuelling its growth with acquisitions, usually smaller firms that enhance its current operations. In the first six months of 2017, it spent $240.2 million to buy other companies. As a result, Genuine’s overall sales in the second quarter of 2017 rose 5.1%, to $4.10 billion from $3.90 billion a year earlier. That beat the consensus forecast of $4.04 billion. Due to the extra costs to absorb these new operations, the company’s…