Private Advisor Group LLC Takes Position in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. $GPI

Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 1,862 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $616,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GPI. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 7,766 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,966,000 after acquiring an additional 227 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 20.3% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 37,028 shares of the company’s stock valued at $14,143,000 after purchasing an additional 6,239 shares during the period. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in Group 1 Automotive in the 1st quarter worth about $229,000. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 6.2% in the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 41,872 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,993,000 after purchasing an additional 2,452 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 46.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,753 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after purchasing an additional 877 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GPI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on Group 1 Automotive from $390.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a report on Friday, June 12th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $338.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $426.89.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Up 6.7%

Shares of Group 1 Automotive stock opened at $319.17 on Thursday. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 12-month low of $279.10 and a 12-month high of $488.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of 12.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $314.84 and its 200-day moving average is $337.18.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $8.66 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $8.82 by ($0.16). Group 1 Automotive had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 1.46%.The firm had revenue of $5.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $10.17 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 41.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

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