State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D Raises Holdings in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. $GPI

State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) by 3.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,415 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D’s holdings in Group 1 Automotive were worth $1,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 54.0% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 2,574 shares of the company’s stock valued at $983,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 95.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 237 shares of the company’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 96.8% during the first quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 4,737 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,809,000 after acquiring an additional 2,330 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 60.3% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 109 shares of the company’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 23.8% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 13,933 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,322,000 after acquiring an additional 2,678 shares during the last quarter. 99.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on GPI shares. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Wall Street Zen lowered Group 1 Automotive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Group 1 Automotive from $470.00 to $485.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Group 1 Automotive from $430.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Group 1 Automotive from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $478.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Group 1 Automotive

In other news, Director Lincoln Pereira sold 7,000 shares of Group 1 Automotive stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $469.34, for a total value of $3,285,380.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 82,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $38,939,731.78. The trade was a 7.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Performance

NYSE GPI opened at $398.05 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 0.85. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 1-year low of $355.91 and a 1-year high of $490.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.06 and a quick ratio of 0.24. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $446.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $436.19.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The company reported $10.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $10.64 by ($0.19). The firm had revenue of $5.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.67 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 1.67% and a return on equity of 18.08%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $9.90 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 41 EPS for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 2nd were paid a $0.50 dividend. This represents a $2.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, September 2nd. Group 1 Automotive’s payout ratio is currently 7.00%.

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.