Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) Given New $435.00 Price Target at Barclays

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) had its target price decreased by Barclays from $470.00 to $435.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock.

GPI has been the topic of a number of other research reports. DA Davidson set a $425.00 target price on Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Evercore set a $440.00 price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Friday, June 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Group 1 Automotive from $390.00 to $380.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $426.89.

Group 1 Automotive Price Performance

GPI opened at $319.17 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $314.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $337.18. 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 has a market cap of $3.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.83. Group 1 Automotive has a 12 month low of $279.10 and a 12 month high of $488.39.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $8.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business had revenue of $5.41 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.17 earnings per share. Group 1 Automotive’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Group 1 Automotive will post 41.78 EPS for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 1st were issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Group 1 Automotive’s payout ratio is currently 8.40%.

Institutional Trading of Group 1 Automotive

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Signaturefd LLC increased its position in Group 1 Automotive by 54.9% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 79 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. First Horizon Corp boosted its position in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 881.8% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Group 1 Automotive during the third quarter worth about $55,000. 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.