General Motors (NYSE:GM) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty-two research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have given a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $59.58.

Several research firms recently commented on GM. Wedbush boosted their target price on General Motors from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on General Motors from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of General Motors from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of General Motors from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of General Motors from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th.

General Motors Trading Down 2.9 %

Shares of GM opened at $52.00 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $53.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $49.42. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. General Motors has a twelve month low of $34.32 and a twelve month high of $61.24. The stock has a market cap of $57.18 billion, a PE ratio of 5.54, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.42.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $48.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.67 billion. General Motors had a net margin of 6.06% and a return on equity of 16.30%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Motors will post 10.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. General Motors’s payout ratio is currently 5.12%.

Insider Transactions at General Motors

In related news, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 506,824 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $53.33, for a total transaction of $27,028,923.92. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 694,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,040,244.84. This trade represents a 42.19 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Rory Harvey sold 8,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $535,229.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 8,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $510,865.13. This trade represents a 51.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,030,475 shares of company stock valued at $56,509,286. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Motors

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GM. Range Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in General Motors in the fourth quarter worth $1,669,000. Fortem Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in General Motors by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 27,322 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $1,455,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in General Motors by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 18,200 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in General Motors by 104.7% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,466 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in General Motors by 1.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,268,096 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $56,861,000 after buying an additional 13,206 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

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.