Group 1 Automotive (GPI) Projected to Post Earnings on Wednesday

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) will likely be posting its quarterly earnings results before the market opens on Wednesday, January 29th. Analysts expect Group 1 Automotive to post earnings of $8.77 per share and revenue of $5,215,200.00 billion for the quarter. Persons that wish to register for the company’s earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Group 1 Automotive (NYSE:GPI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The company reported $9.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $9.87 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $5.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.06 billion. Group 1 Automotive had a net margin of 2.68% and a return on equity of 18.49%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $12.07 EPS. On average, analysts expect Group 1 Automotive to post $38 EPS for the current fiscal year and $40 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Group 1 Automotive Price Performance

Shares of Group 1 Automotive stock opened at $447.87 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.24 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm has a market cap of $5.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.93 and a beta of 1.36. Group 1 Automotive has a twelve month low of $255.73 and a twelve month high of $456.68. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $424.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $379.07.

Group 1 Automotive declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, November 12th that allows the company to buyback $500.00 million in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the company to repurchase up to 9.3% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Group 1 Automotive Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.47 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 2nd. This represents a $1.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.42%. Group 1 Automotive’s dividend payout ratio is 5.01%.

Insider Activity at Group 1 Automotive

In other news, Director Lincoln Pereira sold 6,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $426.68, for a total transaction of $2,560,080.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 98,467 shares in the company, valued at $42,013,899.56. This represents a 5.74 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, VP Edward Mckissic sold 79 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $374.01, for a total value of $29,546.79. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 6,259 shares in the company, valued at $2,340,928.59. This represents a 1.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.70% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GPI has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Group 1 Automotive in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $500.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Group 1 Automotive from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $285.00 to $430.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com upgraded Group 1 Automotive from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Group 1 Automotive from $425.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of Group 1 Automotive from $420.00 to $442.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Group 1 Automotive has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $436.83.

Group 1 Automotive Company Profile

Group 1 Automotive, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates in the automotive retail industry in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company sells new and used cars, light trucks, and vehicle parts, as well as service and insurance contracts; arranges related vehicle financing; and offers automotive maintenance and repair services.