Insider Selling: Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) VP Sells 1,400 Shares of Stock

Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) VP Michael David Jones sold 1,400 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $294.63, for a total value of $412,482.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,535 shares in the company, valued at $3,398,557.05. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Up 0.9 %

GPI stock opened at $295.04 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $276.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $276.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.33. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 12 month low of $214.25 and a 12 month high of $310.08.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 31st. The company reported $9.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.44 by ($0.94). Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 22.45%. The business had revenue of $4.50 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.41 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.86 earnings per share. Group 1 Automotive’s quarterly revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 39.6 earnings per share for the current 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 was Thursday, February 29th. This is an increase from Group 1 Automotive’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. This represents a $1.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.64%. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.44%.

Institutional Trading of Group 1 Automotive

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust increased its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 159.6% in the 3rd quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 122 shares of the company’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Gladius Capital Management LP purchased a new position in Group 1 Automotive during the 3rd quarter worth $37,000. Planned Solutions Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Anchor Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the fourth quarter valued at about $53,000. 99.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GPI shares. Stephens restated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Tuesday, February 13th. Guggenheim upgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $305.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $315.00 to $310.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Group 1 Automotive from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $200.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Group 1 Automotive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $330.83.

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.