O'Reilly director sells 1,000 shares

O’Reilly Automotive Inc. (Nasdaq: ORLY) Director John Raymond Murphy on April 29 sold 1,000 shares of company stock on the open market, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The move garnered $145,450 for Murphy with the shares selling at an average price of $145.45.

Murphy, 63, an independent director on O'Reilly's board since 2004, reported in the SEC filing that after the sale he now owns 3,568 shares of O’Reilly stock. The estimated value of the remaining stock is nearly $520,000.

Shares of the stock were trading at $148.23 as of 9:30 a.m., compared to a 52-week range of $106.79 to $155.94.

On April 23, O’Reilly posted first-quarter earnings of $1.61 per share with net income up 12.7 percent to $173.9 million from $154.3 million in the same quarter of 2013. Sales exceeded $1.7 billion during the first quarter, a 9 percent bump compared to $1.6 billion in the first quarter last year.

Several analysts including Stifel Nicolaus and Barclays have come out following the April 23 report to list the stock as a good buy, according to WatchListNews.com. Stock analysts have estimated O’Reilly will post earnings per share of $7.05 this year.