Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) Short Interest Update

Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) was the recipient of a significant drop in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,650,000 shares, a drop of 5.7% from the December 15th total of 1,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 125,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 13.1 days. Approximately 12.8% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Insider Activity

In other Group 1 Automotive news, VP Edward Mckissic sold 79 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $374.01, for a total value of $29,546.79. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 6,259 shares in the company, valued at $2,340,928.59. This trade represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Lincoln Pereira sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $426.68, for a total value of $2,560,080.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 98,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $42,013,899.56. The trade was a 5.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.70% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Group 1 Automotive

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 51.9% during the third quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 82 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Group 1 Automotive during the third quarter worth $36,000. Avior Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive during the 3rd quarter worth $46,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Group 1 Automotive by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 121 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $101,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. 99.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GPI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $425.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Group 1 Automotive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $285.00 to $430.00 in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price target for the company. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Group 1 Automotive from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $436.83.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of GPI stock opened at $447.84 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.36. Group 1 Automotive has a twelve month low of $255.73 and a twelve month high of $449.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $422.96 and a 200 day moving average of $376.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.00, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $9.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $9.87 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $5.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.06 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 2.68% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The business’s revenue was up 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $12.07 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Group 1 Automotive will post 38.36 EPS for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, November 12th that authorizes the company to repurchase $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 9.3% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 2nd were given a $0.47 dividend. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 2nd. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.01%.

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.