J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in General Motors (NYSE:GM)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lowered its holdings in General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) by 9.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,408 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after selling 1,126 shares during the period. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.’s holdings in General Motors were worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GM. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in 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 valued at $94,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,906,964 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in General Motors by 123.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,226,027 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $144,655,000 after buying an additional 1,779,897 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in General Motors by 158.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,171,587 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $97,374,000 after buying an additional 1,332,450 shares in the last quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd raised its stake in General Motors by 35.8% during the fourth quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd now owns 4,399,549 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $234,364,000 after buying an additional 1,159,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ninety One UK Ltd raised its stake in General Motors by 38.7% during the fourth quarter. Ninety One UK Ltd now owns 4,089,633 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $217,855,000 after buying an additional 1,140,569 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on 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 upped their price objective on General Motors from $62.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 16th. Mizuho upped their price objective on General Motors from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on General Motors from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.71.

General Motors Stock Down 0.8 %

GM opened at $47.77 on Thursday. General Motors has a 12 month low of $38.13 and a 12 month high of $61.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The stock has a market cap of $47.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.77, a P/E/G ratio of 0.68 and a beta of 1.40. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $50.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $50.13.

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

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.00%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. General Motors’s payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Motors

In related news, Director Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. acquired 12,000 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $50.66 per share, with a total value of $607,920.00. Following 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 position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Rory Harvey sold 8,919 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $535,229.19. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $510,865.13. This represents a 51.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Motors 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.