Q3 EPS Forecast for Group 1 Automotive Lowered by Analyst

Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) – Research analysts at Zacks Research lowered their Q3 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Group 1 Automotive in a note issued to investors on Thursday, August 13th. Zacks Research analyst Team now expects that the company will earn $10.64 per share for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $11.27. Zacks Research currently has a “Strong Sell” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for Group 1 Automotive’s current full-year earnings is $39.37 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Group 1 Automotive’s Q4 2026 earnings at $9.72 EPS and Q1 2027 earnings at $10.64 EPS.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on GPI. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $470.00 to $435.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $320.00 in a report on Friday, July 31st. 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 research report on Monday, May 11th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $338.00 to $330.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “hold (c)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $400.22.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Performance

GPI stock opened at $262.78 on Friday. 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 has a 1-year low of $259.24 and a 1-year high of $488.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $305.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $322.93. The company has a market capitalization of $3.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.94, a PEG ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.82.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 30th. The company reported $9.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $10.60 by ($0.99). The firm had revenue of $5.39 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $10.82 EPS.

Group 1 Automotive Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Group 1 Automotive

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Group One Trading LLC purchased a new position in Group 1 Automotive in the 2nd quarter worth $79,000. Conifer Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Group 1 Automotive during the 2nd quarter valued at about $281,561,390,000. Kendall Capital Management purchased a new stake in Group 1 Automotive during the 2nd quarter valued at about $510,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. acquired a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the second quarter valued at about $1,436,000. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the second quarter worth about $2,228,000. 99.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Group 1 Automotive

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.