The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Sells 33,648 Shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. $GPI

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lowered its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) by 9.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 337,020 shares of the company’s stock after selling 33,648 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned about 2.83% of Group 1 Automotive worth $111,429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPI. SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the first quarter valued at approximately $212,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive during the 1st quarter worth $1,195,000. Keebeck Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 21.8% during the 1st quarter. Keebeck Wealth Management now owns 850 shares of the company’s stock worth $281,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Caxton Associates LLP grew its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 20.8% in the 1st quarter. Caxton Associates LLP now owns 6,455 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,134,000 after buying an additional 1,110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 75.1% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 12,264 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,054,000 after buying an additional 5,262 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

Group 1 Automotive Price Performance

NYSE:GPI opened at $350.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.39, a PEG ratio of 0.89 and a beta of 0.83. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a one year low of $279.10 and a one year high of $488.39. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $313.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $332.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00, a current ratio of 0.95 and a quick ratio of 0.21.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $8.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company had revenue of $5.41 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $10.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 41.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 1st were paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 1st. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.40%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on GPI. Weiss Ratings reissued a “hold (c)” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, June 12th. DA Davidson set a $425.00 price target on Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Group 1 Automotive from $338.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Evercore set a $440.00 price objective on Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Group 1 Automotive presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $426.89.

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.