Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 10,100 Shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. $GPI

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) by 1.5% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 688,416 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,100 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 0.06% of Group 1 Automotive worth $227,612,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 54.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 79 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Corp increased its position in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 881.8% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Torren Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 40.5% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 118 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Group 1 Automotive in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $55,000. 99.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on GPI shares. Barclays cut their target price on Group 1 Automotive from $470.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Evercore set a $440.00 price target on Group 1 Automotive in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Citigroup increased their price objective 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. UBS Group reduced their price objective on Group 1 Automotive from $338.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Group 1 Automotive has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $426.89.

Group 1 Automotive Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:GPI opened at $326.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 12 month low of $279.10 and a 12 month high of $488.39. The company has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $312.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $333.94.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $8.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $8.82 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $5.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 1.46% and a return on equity of 16.63%. Group 1 Automotive’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $10.17 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 41.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a $0.55 dividend. 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 0.7%. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.40%.

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.