Brokerages Set Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) Price Target at $466.57

Shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $466.5714.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GPI. Benchmark reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Evercore started coverage on Group 1 Automotive in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $500.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $410.00 to $370.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $460.00 price target on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a report on Monday, December 8th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Group 1 Automotive

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 151,578 shares of the company’s stock valued at $59,616,000 after acquiring an additional 7,501 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 1,770 shares of the company’s stock worth $696,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 118.8% in the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 47,760 shares of the company’s stock valued at $18,784,000 after purchasing an additional 25,932 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL grew its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 39.3% in the fourth quarter. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL now owns 55,749 shares of the company’s stock valued at $21,926,000 after purchasing an additional 15,714 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Numerai GP LLC purchased a new stake in Group 1 Automotive during the 4th quarter worth approximately $276,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

Group 1 Automotive Price Performance

NYSE:GPI opened at $331.57 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.25, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Group 1 Automotive has a 52 week low of $324.49 and a 52 week high of $488.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $381.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $413.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 billion, a PE ratio of 13.26 and a beta of 0.90.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $8.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.36 by ($0.87). Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 17.39%. The company had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.71 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $10.02 EPS. Group 1 Automotive’s revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Group 1 Automotive will post 41 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Group 1 Automotive declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, November 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 10.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Group 1 Automotive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd will be issued a $0.55 dividend. This is an increase from Group 1 Automotive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.7%. Group 1 Automotive’s payout ratio is presently 8.00%.

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.