General Motors (NYSE:GM) Cut to “Hold” at StockNews.com

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

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on General Motors in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. They set an outperform rating and a $55.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on General Motors from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their target price on General Motors from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on General Motors from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded General Motors from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $47.00 in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $56.38.

General Motors Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GM opened at $44.12 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.97. General Motors has a 1-year low of $26.30 and a 1-year high of $50.50. The firm has a market cap of $49.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The auto manufacturer reported $3.06 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $47.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.13 billion. General Motors had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 6.22%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.91 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 9.58 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Tuesday, June 11th that authorizes the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the auto manufacturer to repurchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.87%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 626,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.46, for a total transaction of $27,219,693.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,198,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,093,242.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 626,316 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.46, for a total transaction of $27,219,693.36. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,198,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $52,093,242.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 326,305 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 1,152,621 shares of company stock valued at $51,818,111. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Motors

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of General Motors by 14.6% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 48,767,573 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $2,211,609,000 after purchasing an additional 6,201,777 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of General Motors by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 20,237,820 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $726,942,000 after purchasing an additional 2,905,689 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Motors by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 18,097,486 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $650,062,000 after purchasing an additional 3,247,050 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in General Motors during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $602,280,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in General Motors by 12.0% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,731,249 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $493,226,000 after acquiring an additional 1,472,297 shares in the last quarter. 92.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About General Motors

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.