Strs Ohio Has $2.67 Million Stock Holdings in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. $GPI

Strs Ohio trimmed its stake in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI - Free Report) by 53.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,800 shares of the company's stock after selling 7,900 shares during the quarter. Strs Ohio owned approximately 0.05% of Group 1 Automotive worth $2,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 6.1% in the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 471 shares of the company's stock valued at $206,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 54.9% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 79 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 595 shares of the company's stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 40.5% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 118 shares of the company's stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Sawgrass Asset Management LLC increased its position in Group 1 Automotive by 6.4% during the third quarter. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC now owns 599 shares of the company's stock worth $262,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 99.92% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on Group 1 Automotive from $470.00 to $455.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Group 1 Automotive from $370.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Evercore assumed coverage on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $490.00 to $420.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $447.14.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Up 3.3%

Shares of GPI opened at $341.04 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.00. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 12 month low of $292.44 and a 12 month high of $488.39. The firm's 50 day moving average is $328.63 and its 200-day moving average is $369.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.06 billion, a PE ratio of 13.02, a P/E/G ratio of 0.76 and a beta of 0.87.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The company reported $8.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $8.82 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $5.41 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.42 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a return on equity of 16.63% and a net margin of 1.46%.The company's quarterly revenue was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $10.17 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 42.05 EPS for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 2nd were given a dividend of $0.55 per share. This is a positive change from Group 1 Automotive's previous quarterly dividend of $0.50. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 2nd. Group 1 Automotive's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.40%.

Group 1 Automotive 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GPI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.