Foster & Motley Inc. Sells 55 Shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI)

Foster & Motley Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 11,558 shares of the company’s stock after selling 55 shares during the quarter. Foster & Motley Inc. owned about 0.08% of Group 1 Automotive worth $3,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its position in Group 1 Automotive by 159.6% during the third quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Gladius Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Group 1 Automotive in the third quarter worth about $37,000. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 74.1% in the third quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 195 shares of the company’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in Group 1 Automotive in the fourth quarter worth about $50,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive during the fourth quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GPI. Morgan Stanley raised Group 1 Automotive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $200.00 to $255.00 in a report on Thursday, February 29th. Guggenheim upgraded Group 1 Automotive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Group 1 Automotive from $325.00 to $315.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. StockNews.com cut Group 1 Automotive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 1st. Finally, Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Tuesday, February 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $331.67.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of GPI opened at $270.27 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.33 and a current ratio of 1.11. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a one year low of $214.25 and a one year high of $310.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.30, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $271.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $274.03.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The company reported $9.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $10.44 by ($0.94). Group 1 Automotive had a return on equity of 24.36% and a net margin of 3.34%. The firm had revenue of $4.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $10.86 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 39.45 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Group 1 Automotive Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 1st were paid a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. This is a positive change from Group 1 Automotive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. Group 1 Automotive’s payout ratio is 4.41%.

Group 1 Automotive Profile

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.