Renaissance Technologies LLC Invests $1.20 Million in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. $GPI

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 3,615 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,195,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPI. First Horizon Corp increased its position in Group 1 Automotive by 881.8% during the 4th quarter. First Horizon Corp now owns 108 shares of the company’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Torren Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 40.5% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 118 shares of the company’s stock valued at $46,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the third quarter valued at approximately $55,000. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd acquired a new position in Group 1 Automotive during the fourth quarter worth $57,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut Group 1 Automotive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $380.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. DA Davidson set a $425.00 price target on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $462.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research cut shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Benchmark reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a report on Friday, July 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $400.22.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Performance

Shares of GPI stock opened at $262.78 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $305.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $322.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 1.02. The stock has a market cap of $3.13 billion, a PE ratio of 10.94, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.82. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 1 year low of $259.24 and a 1 year high of $488.39.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $9.61 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $10.60 by ($0.99). The firm had revenue of $5.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.66 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 15.66%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $10.82 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 39.37 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Group 1 Automotive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be issued a dividend of $0.55 per share. This represents a $2.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.16%.

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.