Insider Selling: Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) Director Sells 6,000 Shares of Stock

Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) Director Lincoln Pereira sold 6,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $426.68, for a total transaction of $2,560,080.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 98,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,013,899.56. This represents a 5.74 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Group 1 Automotive Trading Up 0.9 %

Group 1 Automotive stock opened at $414.90 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $397.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $357.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.06 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 1.00. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 52 week low of $255.73 and a 52 week high of $440.32.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $9.90 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.87 by $0.03. Group 1 Automotive had a return on equity of 18.49% and a net margin of 2.68%. The company had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $12.07 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 38.37 earnings per share for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.01%.

Group 1 Automotive announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, November 12th that authorizes the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to reacquire up to 9.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on GPI. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com raised Group 1 Automotive from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Morgan Stanley raised Group 1 Automotive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $285.00 to $430.00 in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $437.67.

Institutional Trading of Group 1 Automotive

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 47.5% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 270 shares of the company’s stock valued at $79,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 8.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 40,541 shares of the company’s stock worth $12,052,000 after purchasing an additional 3,095 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 108,500 shares of the company’s stock worth $32,255,000 after purchasing an additional 16,600 shares during the last quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 2,854 shares of the company’s stock valued at $848,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 10.8% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 3,191 shares of the company’s stock valued at $949,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

About Group 1 Automotive

Group 1 Automotive, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates in the automotive retail industry in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company sells new and used cars, light trucks, and vehicle parts, as well as service and insurance contracts; arranges related vehicle financing; and offers automotive maintenance and repair services.