Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. They currently have $370.00 price target on the stock.

GPI has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley set a $460.00 target price on Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Evercore began coverage on Group 1 Automotive in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $500.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays set a $470.00 price objective on Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Monday, December 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Group 1 Automotive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $466.57.

Group 1 Automotive Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of GPI stock opened at $342.64 on Friday. Group 1 Automotive has a 1 year low of $324.49 and a 1 year high of $488.39. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $380.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $412.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.70 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

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

Group 1 Automotive announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, November 11th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to buy up to 10.4% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Group 1 Automotive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is an increase from Group 1 Automotive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 2nd. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.00%.

Institutional Trading of Group 1 Automotive

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of 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 holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 678,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,788,000 after purchasing an additional 25,209 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Group 1 Automotive by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 505,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,659,000 after purchasing an additional 7,418 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Group 1 Automotive in the fourth quarter worth $98,125,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 58,641 shares during the last quarter. 99.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Group 1 Automotive Company Profile

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.