Hsbc Holdings PLC Makes New Investment in Group 1 Automotive, Inc. $GPI

Hsbc Holdings PLC bought a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 17,697 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,134,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew 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 buying an additional 25,424,532 shares in the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Group 1 Automotive in the 2nd quarter valued at $593,420,000. Conifer Management L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive during the 2nd quarter valued at $281,561,390. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 688,416 shares of the company’s stock worth $227,612,000 after purchasing an additional 10,100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of Group 1 Automotive by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 505,108 shares of the company’s stock worth $198,659,000 after purchasing an additional 7,418 shares in the last quarter. 99.92% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GPI. Barclays dropped their price target on Group 1 Automotive from $435.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Monday, August 10th. Seaport Research Partners set a $420.00 price target on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, DA Davidson set a $425.00 price target on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Group 1 Automotive has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $392.44.

Group 1 Automotive Price Performance

Group 1 Automotive stock opened at $263.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.25 and a current ratio of 1.02. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 52 week low of $249.54 and a 52 week high of $488.39. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.82. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $292.47 and a 200-day moving average of $315.28.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 1.31% and a return on equity of 15.66%. The business had revenue of $5.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.66 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $10.82 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 38.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Group 1 Automotive Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 1st will be paid a $0.55 dividend. This represents a $2.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 1st. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.