Trexquant Investment LP Sells 748,384 Shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM)

Trexquant Investment LP trimmed its stake in shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) by 75.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 241,202 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after selling 748,384 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in General Motors were worth $12,849,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of General Motors by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,273,136 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,559,380,000 after buying an additional 1,170,816 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in General Motors by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,796,969 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $1,264,567,000 after acquiring an additional 176,436 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in General Motors by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 17,278,448 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $774,766,000 after purchasing an additional 989,750 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Motors in the 4th quarter valued at $592,321,000. Finally, ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its position in shares of General Motors by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 7,397,404 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $394,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,104,528 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res lowered General Motors from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com lowered General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of General Motors in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Cowen initiated coverage on shares of General Motors in a research note on Thursday, March 6th. They issued a “buy” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of General Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.11.

General Motors Stock Performance

Shares of GM stock opened at $47.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.13. General Motors has a fifty-two week low of $38.96 and a fifty-two week high of $61.24. The company has a market capitalization of $46.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.67, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $48.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $50.62.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The auto manufacturer reported $1.92 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.17. General Motors had a net margin of 3.21% and a return on equity of 15.29%. Analysts expect that General Motors will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.02%. General Motors’s payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

General Motors announced that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the auto manufacturer to purchase up to 12.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at General Motors

In related news, Director Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. purchased 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $50.66 per share, for a total transaction of $607,920.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 13,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $694,751.24. The trade was a 700.12 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.