Victory Capital Management Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI)

Victory Capital Management Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI - Free Report) by 16.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,110 shares of the company's stock after selling 2,609 shares during the quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.09% of Group 1 Automotive worth $3,995,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 47.5% in the third quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 15,051 shares of the company's stock worth $4,082,000 after acquiring an additional 4,844 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. raised its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. Burney Co. now owns 70,085 shares of the company's stock valued at $18,832,000 after purchasing an additional 6,946 shares during the period. Covalis Capital LLP bought a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the third quarter valued at about $16,330,000. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System acquired a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive during the fourth quarter worth about $2,103,000. Finally, Boston Partners bought a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive during the third quarter worth about $12,703,000. 99.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on GPI. Guggenheim raised 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 1st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Group 1 Automotive from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $200.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target 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, May 2nd. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $330.83.

Group 1 Automotive Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of GPI stock traded down $3.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $317.67. 118,422 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 140,632. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $284.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $280.24. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 1-year low of $217.71 and a 1-year high of $323.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The company has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.38.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The company reported $9.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $9.52 by ($0.03). Group 1 Automotive had a return on equity of 22.45% and a net margin of 3.23%. The business had revenue of $4.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.30 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 38.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 3rd will be issued a $0.47 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 3rd. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.59%. Group 1 Automotive's payout ratio is 4.44%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Michael David Jones sold 1,400 shares of Group 1 Automotive stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.63, for a total value of $412,482.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,535 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,398,557.05. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.70% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Group 1 Automotive Company 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.