O’Reilly Auto shares cross $400 for first time

Graphic courtesy Google Finance

O’Reilly Automotive's stock price continues to rise this year.

O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: ORLY) is having a banner start to the year on Wall Street.

Amid roughly 10 new 52-week highs in February and early April, the Springfield-based auto parts retailer’s shares crossed the $400 mark for the first time on April 5.

O’Reilly Automotive’s stock price closed at $403.79 per share that day, followed by another 52-week high of $404.16 on April 6. The stock price has since declined but remains above the $400 mark, with shares trading at $402.56 as of 11:04 a.m. The stock’s 52-week low is $217.64, according to data collected by Yahoo Finance.

The company’s newest 52-week highs were prompted, in part, by O’Reilly Automotive announcing April 1 it would release its first-quarter earnings report on April 24.

For 2019, O’Reilly Automotive expects earnings of $17.37 to $17.47 per share.

An April 9 report by data analysis firm IHS Markit indicated O’Reilly Automotive stock-holding exchange-traded funds — a marketable security that tracks a stock index, according to Investopedia.com — have recorded net inflows of nearly $140 billion over the last month. According to Investopedia, net inflows free up cash for investment managers, meaning stocks that create them are in demand.

“This is among the highest net inflows seen over the last ... year and the rate of additional inflows appears to be increasing,” the IHS Markit report states.

O’Reilly Automotive officials previously projected the company would hit $10 billion in sales this year for the first time in its history. In 2018, sales rose 6.2 percent to $9.5 billion