Mark Joseph Merz Sells 500 Shares of O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORLY) Stock

O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASDAQ:ORLY) SVP Mark Joseph Merz sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $1,325.00, for a total transaction of $662,500.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 275 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $364,375. This trade represents a 64.52 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

O’Reilly Automotive Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of ORLY opened at $1,318.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $76.13 billion, a PE ratio of 32.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.94. The company’s fifty day moving average is $1,248.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $1,194.23. O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $947.49 and a fifty-two week high of $1,350.27.

O’Reilly Automotive (NASDAQ:ORLY) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The specialty retailer reported $9.96 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.73 by $0.23. O’Reilly Automotive had a net margin of 14.28% and a negative return on equity of 166.88%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. will post 44.16 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On O’Reilly Automotive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of O’Reilly Automotive by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,163,271 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $6,122,607,000 after acquiring an additional 17,325 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of O’Reilly Automotive by 73.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,725,316 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $1,986,874,000 after acquiring an additional 728,040 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in O’Reilly Automotive by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,479,166 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,700,513,000 after buying an additional 24,135 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake in O’Reilly Automotive by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,443,540 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $1,711,750,000 after buying an additional 11,039 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in O’Reilly Automotive by 99,957.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 854,487 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $984,027,000 after buying an additional 853,633 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.00% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ORLY has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of O’Reilly Automotive from $1,400.00 to $1,535.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of O’Reilly Automotive from $1,450.00 to $1,525.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of O’Reilly Automotive from $1,200.00 to $1,350.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of O’Reilly Automotive from $1,400.00 to $1,450.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of O’Reilly Automotive from $1,110.00 to $1,250.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $1,390.81.

O’Reilly Automotive Company Profile

O’Reilly Automotive, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a retailer and supplier of automotive aftermarket parts, tools, supplies, equipment, and accessories in the United States, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. The company provides new and remanufactured automotive hard parts and maintenance items, such as alternators, batteries, brake system components, belts, chassis parts, driveline parts, engine parts, fuel pumps, hoses, starters, temperature control, water pumps, antifreeze, appearance products, engine additives, filters, fluids, lighting products, and oil and wiper blades; and accessories, including floor mats, seat covers, and truck accessories.