Morgan Stanley Lowers Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) Price Target to $400.00

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) had its price target reduced by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $460.00 to $400.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 25.65% from the stock’s current price.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Benchmark reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Evercore started coverage on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings downgraded Group 1 Automotive from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Barclays set a $470.00 price target on Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Group 1 Automotive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $458.00.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Down 2.3%

GPI traded down $7.39 during trading on Monday, hitting $318.35. The company had a trading volume of 32,102 shares, compared to its average volume of 184,611. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $372.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $409.40. The company has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a PE ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. Group 1 Automotive has a one year low of $315.32 and a one year high of $488.39.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The company reported $8.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.36 by ($0.87). The firm had revenue of $5.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.71 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 1.44% and a return on equity of 17.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $10.02 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Group 1 Automotive will post 41 earnings per share for the current year.

Group 1 Automotive declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Tuesday, November 11th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to reacquire up to 10.4% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Group 1 Automotive

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its position in Group 1 Automotive by 366,770.5% during the fourth quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 25,431,464 shares of the company’s stock worth $10,002,195,000 after purchasing an additional 25,424,532 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Group 1 Automotive by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 678,316 shares of the company’s stock valued at $266,788,000 after buying an additional 25,209 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 505,108 shares of the company’s stock valued at $198,659,000 after acquiring an additional 7,418 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Group 1 Automotive during the fourth quarter worth approximately $98,125,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 34.8% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 226,915 shares of the company’s stock worth $99,278,000 after acquiring an additional 58,641 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 99.92% of the company’s stock.

Group 1 Automotive Company 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.