StockNews.com Downgrades General Motors (NYSE:GM) to Hold

StockNews.com lowered shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on General Motors from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on General Motors from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Mizuho lifted their price target on General Motors from $48.00 to $52.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein started coverage on General Motors in a report on Thursday, April 25th. They set an outperform rating and a $55.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut General Motors from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $47.00 in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $56.38.

General Motors Stock Down 0.0 %

GM opened at $44.12 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $43.01. General Motors has a 12 month low of $26.30 and a 12 month high of $50.50.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The auto manufacturer reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $47.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.13 billion. General Motors had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 6.22%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.91 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that General Motors will post 9.93 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.87%.

General Motors declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, June 11th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the auto manufacturer to reacquire up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Motors news, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 326,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $48.33, for a total value of $15,770,320.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 898,648 shares in the company, valued at approximately $43,431,657.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other General Motors news, President Mark L. Reuss sold 150,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.44, for a total value of $6,516,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now owns 176,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,684,840.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 326,305 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $48.33, for a total value of $15,770,320.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 898,648 shares in the company, valued at $43,431,657.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 1,152,621 shares of company stock worth $51,818,111 in the last 90 days. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Motors

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. HB Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of General Motors by 17.2% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,382 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $901,000 after purchasing an additional 2,850 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of General Motors by 4.8% in the 2nd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 7,874 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $366,000 after purchasing an additional 358 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of General Motors by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 12,355 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $574,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of General Motors by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 3,403,708 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $158,136,000 after purchasing an additional 246,867 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of General Motors by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 104,384 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,850,000 after purchasing an additional 4,343 shares in the last quarter. 92.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Motors Company Profile

General Motors Company designs, builds, and sells trucks, crossovers, cars, and automobile parts; and provide software-enabled services and subscriptions worldwide. The company operates through GM North America, GM International, Cruise, and GM Financial segments. It markets its vehicles primarily under the Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, Baojun, and Wuling brand names.