Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) Given “Equal Weight” Rating at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley restated their equal weight rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) in a research note released on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $300.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $400.00.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on GPI. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $338.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. DA Davidson set a $425.00 target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Evercore set a $360.00 price target on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup raised their price target on Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Finally, Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.22.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of GPI stock opened at $266.31 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $308.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $327.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 1.02. Group 1 Automotive has a twelve month low of $264.02 and a twelve month high of $488.39. The company has a market capitalization of $3.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.09, a PEG ratio of 0.80 and a beta of 0.82.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $9.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.60 by ($0.99). Group 1 Automotive had a return on equity of 15.66% and a net margin of 1.31%.The company had revenue of $5.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.66 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $10.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Group 1 Automotive will post 39.9 EPS for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. Group 1 Automotive’s payout ratio is 9.16%.

Institutional Trading of Group 1 Automotive

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its position in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 366,770.5% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 25,431,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,002,195,000 after buying an additional 25,424,532 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Group 1 Automotive during the second quarter worth about $593,420,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 1.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 688,416 shares of the company’s stock valued at $227,612,000 after acquiring an additional 10,100 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 505,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,659,000 after purchasing an additional 7,418 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the 4th quarter valued at $98,125,000. 99.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Group 1 Automotive

Group 1 Automotive, Inc (NYSE: GPI) is an international automotive retailer headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company operates an extensive network of franchised dealerships, offering new and pre-owned vehicles from leading domestic and import manufacturers. In addition to vehicle sales, Group 1 Automotive provides a full complement of aftersales services, including finance and insurance products, parts distribution, collision repair centers and vehicle maintenance.

Founded in 1997, Group 1 Automotive has grown through both organic expansion and strategic acquisitions to establish a presence across the United States, the United Kingdom and Brazil.