General Motors (NYSE:GM) Short Interest Up 70.0% in February

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 42,800,000 shares, an increase of 70.0% from the February 13th total of 25,180,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 11,560,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days. Currently, 4.3% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on GM shares. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of General Motors in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of General Motors in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $73.00 price target on shares of General Motors in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Finally, HSBC cut shares of General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $58.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.89.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Motors

In related news, Director Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. bought 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $50.66 per share, for a total transaction of $607,920.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 13,714 shares in the company, valued at $694,751.24. The trade was a 700.12 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Motors

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GM. Norges Bank bought a new stake in General Motors during the 4th quarter valued at about $592,321,000. Amundi grew its stake in shares of General Motors by 75.5% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 4,914,256 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $250,627,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113,973 shares during the period. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC grew its stake in shares of General Motors by 39.8% in the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 7,397,404 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $394,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104,528 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Motors in the fourth quarter worth approximately $108,366,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in shares of General Motors by 972.6% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,103,036 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $94,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,964 shares during the period. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Motors Price Performance

GM stock opened at $48.34 on Friday. 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 52 week low of $38.96 and a 52 week high of $61.24. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $49.23 and its 200 day moving average is $50.46. The firm has a market cap of $48.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.86, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.42.

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%. Research analysts predict that General Motors will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.99%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.80%.

General Motors declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the auto manufacturer to repurchase up to 12.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.