Insider Buying: Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) Major Shareholder Purchases $954,326.74 in Stock

Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) major shareholder Conifer Management, L.L.C. bought 3,539 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $269.66 per share, with a total value of $954,326.74. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 1,195,799 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $322,459,158.34. This trade represents a 0.30% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Major shareholders that own more than 10% of a company’s shares are required to disclose their transactions with the SEC.

Conifer Management, L.L.C. also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, September 2nd, Conifer Management, L.L.C. purchased 26,561 shares of Group 1 Automotive stock. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $276.03 per share, for a total transaction of $7,331,632.83.

Group 1 Automotive Price Performance

Shares of Group 1 Automotive stock opened at $301.91 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $289.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of $313.33. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.57, a PEG ratio of 0.91 and a beta of 0.82. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.54 and a 1-year high of $488.39.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $5.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.66 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 15.66%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $10.82 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 38.96 earnings per share for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Group 1 Automotive’s payout ratio is presently 9.16%.

Institutional Trading of Group 1 Automotive

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Corient Private Wealth LP lifted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 6.2% during the second quarter. Corient Private Wealth LP now owns 702 shares of the company’s stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $221,000. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 25,782.6% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 3,867,902 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,126,217,000 after buying an additional 3,852,958 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Group 1 Automotive in the 2nd quarter valued at $233,000. Finally, AXQ Capital LP bought a new stake in Group 1 Automotive in the second quarter valued at $326,000. 99.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered their target price on Group 1 Automotive from $435.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Weiss Ratings cut Group 1 Automotive from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Evercore set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Tuesday, August 4th. Zacks Research cut shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $425.00 price target on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a report on Friday, July 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $392.44.

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.