South Dakota Investment Council Cuts Stock Position in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. $GPI

South Dakota Investment Council cut its position in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) by 4.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,403 shares of the company’s stock after selling 1,466 shares during the quarter. South Dakota Investment Council owned approximately 0.23% of Group 1 Automotive worth $12,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GPI. Elequin Capital LP purchased a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the 1st quarter worth approximately $29,000. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 90.5% in the second quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 80 shares of the company’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 25.8% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 25 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Group 1 Automotive in the first quarter worth $64,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 95.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 237 shares of the company’s stock worth $91,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. 99.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GPI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Group 1 Automotive from $430.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 14th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $560.00 to $545.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $478.00.

Insider Transactions at Group 1 Automotive

In other Group 1 Automotive news, Director Lincoln Pereira sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $469.34, for a total value of $3,285,380.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 82,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,939,731.78. This represents a 7.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Group 1 Automotive Trading Up 0.6%

Group 1 Automotive stock opened at $398.05 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $446.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $436.79. The company has a market capitalization of $5.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.85. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 52 week low of $355.91 and a 52 week high of $490.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $10.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $10.64 by ($0.19). Group 1 Automotive had a return on equity of 18.08% and a net margin of 1.67%.The business had revenue of $5.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $9.90 EPS. Group 1 Automotive’s quarterly revenue was up 10.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 41 EPS for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.00%.

About Group 1 Automotive

Group 1 Automotive, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates in the automotive retail industry in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company sells new and used cars, light trucks, and vehicle parts, as well as service and insurance contracts; arranges related vehicle financing; and offers automotive maintenance and repair services.