Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Reduces Holdings in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. $GPI

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lowered its position in shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) by 85.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,464 shares of the company’s stock after selling 32,405 shares during the quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Group 1 Automotive were worth $2,149,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 366,770.5% in the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 25,431,464 shares of the company’s stock valued at $10,002,195,000 after acquiring an additional 25,424,532 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 678,316 shares of the company’s stock worth $266,788,000 after acquiring an additional 25,209 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 505,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,659,000 after acquiring an additional 7,418 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Group 1 Automotive in the fourth quarter valued at $98,125,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Group 1 Automotive by 34.8% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 226,915 shares of the company’s stock valued at $99,278,000 after purchasing an additional 58,641 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GPI. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a report on Friday, June 12th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $385.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $441.25.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Down 1.4%

NYSE:GPI opened at $297.51 on Tuesday. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 52 week low of $291.33 and a 52 week high of $488.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $326.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $346.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.69 and a beta of 0.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $8.66 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $8.82 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $5.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 1.46% and a return on equity of 16.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $10.17 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 42.37 EPS for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.