Brokerages Set Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) Target Price at $447.67

Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $449.86.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GPI shares. Stephens restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $460.00 price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $495.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $502.00 to $426.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $463.00 target price on the stock.

Group 1 Automotive Price Performance

GPI stock opened at $407.58 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $410.17 and a 200-day moving average of $417.25. The company has a current ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.92. Group 1 Automotive has a 12 month low of $279.86 and a 12 month high of $490.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.09 and a beta of 1.05.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $10.17 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $9.68 by $0.49. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 2.47% and a return on equity of 18.09%. The company had revenue of $5.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.37 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $9.49 earnings per share. Group 1 Automotive’s revenue was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Group 1 Automotive will post 41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Group 1 Automotive Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 3rd were given a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. This is a positive change from Group 1 Automotive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.47. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 3rd. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.61%.

Institutional Trading of Group 1 Automotive

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. FMR LLC boosted its position in Group 1 Automotive by 26.4% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 515,593 shares of the company’s stock valued at $217,312,000 after buying an additional 107,663 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. boosted its position in Group 1 Automotive by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 396,401 shares of the company’s stock valued at $167,075,000 after buying an additional 9,587 shares during the period. Advent International L.P. boosted its position in Group 1 Automotive by 65.7% during the fourth quarter. Advent International L.P. now owns 203,951 shares of the company’s stock valued at $85,961,000 after buying an additional 80,870 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in Group 1 Automotive by 111.1% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 161,216 shares of the company’s stock valued at $67,949,000 after buying an additional 84,832 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 157,970 shares of the company’s stock worth $66,581,000 after purchasing an additional 15,280 shares during the period. 99.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.