Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) Receives $426.89 Average Price Target from Analysts

Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $426.8889.

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GPI shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group decreased their target price on Group 1 Automotive from $338.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $470.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $390.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, July 13th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Group 1 Automotive

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 366,770.5% in the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 25,431,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,002,195,000 after purchasing an additional 25,424,532 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Group 1 Automotive in the 4th quarter worth $98,125,000. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 968.8% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 84,412 shares of the company’s stock worth $36,931,000 after purchasing an additional 76,514 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 2,053.8% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 51,972 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,403,000 after purchasing an additional 49,559 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Man Group plc purchased a new stake in Group 1 Automotive during the second quarter valued at about $17,959,000. 99.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE:GPI opened at $326.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.21. Group 1 Automotive has a one year low of $279.10 and a one year high of $488.39. The company has a market cap of $3.89 billion, a PE ratio of 12.47, a P/E/G ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.83. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $312.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $333.94.

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

Group 1 Automotive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 1st. Group 1 Automotive’s payout ratio is currently 8.40%.

Group 1 Automotive Company Profile

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.