Lakewood Capital Management LP Acquires Shares of 247,614 Group 1 Automotive, Inc. $GPI

Lakewood Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 247,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,098,000. Group 1 Automotive accounts for approximately 3.7% of Lakewood Capital Management LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Lakewood Capital Management LP owned about 2.08% of Group 1 Automotive at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GPI. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 935 shares of the company’s stock worth $399,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 40.5% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 118 shares of the company’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in Group 1 Automotive by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. CWM LLC now owns 551 shares of the company’s stock worth $217,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its position in Group 1 Automotive by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,156 shares of the company’s stock worth $505,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 99.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on GPI shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a report on Monday, August 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered Group 1 Automotive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $380.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley restated an “equal weight” rating and issued a $300.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, August 7th. DA Davidson set a $425.00 price objective on Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Barclays lowered their target price on Group 1 Automotive from $435.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $392.44.

Group 1 Automotive Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of GPI stock opened at $259.48 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $296.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $317.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a PE ratio of 10.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.25. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 1-year low of $249.54 and a 1-year high of $488.39.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $9.61 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $10.60 by ($0.99). The company had revenue of $5.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.66 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a return on equity of 15.66% and a net margin of 1.31%.Group 1 Automotive’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $10.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 38.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Group 1 Automotive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be given 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 is presently 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.