New York State Common Retirement Fund Has $9.65 Million Stock Position in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI)

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI - Free Report) by 27.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,268 shares of the company's stock after selling 9,547 shares during the period. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.19% of Group 1 Automotive worth $9,651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 1,302 shares of the company's stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Sage Rhino Capital LLC now owns 538 shares of the company's stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. EULAV Asset Management raised its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 6.6% during the 1st quarter. EULAV Asset Management now owns 25,815 shares of the company's stock worth $9,860,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 23.0% during the 1st quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 771 shares of the company's stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leeward Investments LLC MA acquired a new stake in Group 1 Automotive during the 1st quarter worth $8,769,000. 99.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on GPI shares. Benchmark started coverage on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $510.00 to $565.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, June 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $435.00 to $415.00 in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $463.00 to $495.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $470.14.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Group 1 Automotive stock traded up $5.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $411.51. The company had a trading volume of 167,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 152,296. The company has a market cap of $5.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 0.90. The firm's fifty day moving average is $440.58 and its 200-day moving average is $431.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 1.00. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $298.92 and a fifty-two week high of $490.09.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $10.17 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $9.68 by $0.49. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 2.27% and a return on equity of 17.96%. The business had revenue of $5.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.37 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $9.49 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 23.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 41 EPS for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Monday, June 2nd were paid a dividend of $0.50 per share. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 2nd. Group 1 Automotive's dividend payout ratio is presently 5.61%.

Insider Activity at Group 1 Automotive

In related news, CFO Daniel James Mchenry sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $441.71, for a total transaction of $1,325,130.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 16,674 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,365,072.54. This represents a 15.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Michael David Jones sold 1,613 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $405.57, for a total transaction of $654,184.41. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 8,260 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,350,008.20. This trade represents a 16.34% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.