Group 1 Automotive’s (GPI) Equal Weight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI)‘s stock had its “equal weight” rating reissued by research analysts at Morgan Stanley in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $300.00 price target on the stock, down from their previous price target of $400.00. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 10.70% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on GPI. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore set a $360.00 price target on Group 1 Automotive in a report on Tuesday. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $470.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $380.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Group 1 Automotive currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $400.22.

Group 1 Automotive Price Performance

Group 1 Automotive stock opened at $270.99 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.29, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 0.82. The business has a 50-day moving average of $309.83 and a 200-day moving average of $327.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.02, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. Group 1 Automotive has a 1 year low of $269.76 and a 1 year high of $488.39.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $9.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.60 by ($0.99). The firm had revenue of $5.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.66 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a return on equity of 15.66% and a net margin of 1.31%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $10.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Group 1 Automotive will post 39.9 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Group 1 Automotive

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 54.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 79 shares of the company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. First Horizon Corp boosted its position in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 881.8% in the fourth quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the fourth quarter valued at about $43,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its position 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 acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Group 1 Automotive in the 3rd quarter valued at about $55,000. Institutional investors own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

About Group 1 Automotive

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.