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

Lakewood Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (NYSE:GPI) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 247,614 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $72,098,000. Group 1 Automotive comprises approximately 3.7% of Lakewood Capital Management LP’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GPI. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Group 1 Automotive in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,167,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Group 1 Automotive during the 4th quarter valued at $98,125,000. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Group 1 Automotive by 1,001.6% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 12,779 shares of the company’s stock valued at $5,026,000 after buying an additional 11,619 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in Group 1 Automotive by 51.6% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 78,794 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,064,000 after buying an additional 26,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Group 1 Automotive during the first quarter worth $5,049,000. 99.92% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GPI. Seaport Research Partners set a $420.00 price objective on Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $462.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 11th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Monday, August 10th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $435.00 to $365.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Group 1 Automotive from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Group 1 Automotive currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $392.44.

Group 1 Automotive Stock Performance

Shares of GPI stock opened at $259.48 on Tuesday. Group 1 Automotive, Inc. has a 12 month low of $249.54 and a 12 month high of $488.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.02 and a quick ratio of 0.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 10.81, a P/E/G ratio of 0.79 and a beta of 0.82. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $296.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $317.45.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $5.39 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 was down 5.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $10.82 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Group 1 Automotive, Inc. will post 38.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

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

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.