Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) Upgraded by Benchmark to “Buy” Rating

Benchmark upgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Benchmark currently has $425.00 target price on the stock.

GPI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Evercore initiated coverage on Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $500.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $460.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, February 20th. Barclays set a $470.00 target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $453.88.

Group 1 Automotive Trading Up 1.4%

Shares of GPI opened at $329.58 on Monday. Group 1 Automotive has a fifty-two week low of $292.44 and a fifty-two week high of $488.39. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a PE ratio of 13.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $338.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $387.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 1.08.

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

Group 1 Automotive Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.7%. This is a boost from Group 1 Automotive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.80%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Group 1 Automotive

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 366,770.5% during the 4th quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 25,431,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,002,195,000 after purchasing an additional 25,424,532 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position 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 valued at $266,788,000 after buying an additional 25,209 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Group 1 Automotive by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 505,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,659,000 after buying an additional 7,418 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Group 1 Automotive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $98,125,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 34.8% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 226,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,278,000 after buying an additional 58,641 shares during the period. 99.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.