General Motors (NYSE:GM) Shares Up 0.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Thursday after StockNews.com upgraded the stock from a hold rating to a buy rating. The company traded as high as $45.35 and last traded at $45.12. 4,548,689 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 17,389,449 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.08.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of General Motors from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of General Motors from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of General Motors from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of General Motors from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of General Motors from $56.00 to $58.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $54.38.

Insider Transactions at General Motors

In other news, CAO Christopher Hatto sold 15,510 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $620,710.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $860,710.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CAO Christopher Hatto sold 15,510 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total transaction of $620,710.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,507 shares in the company, valued at approximately $860,710.14. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Julian G. Blissett sold 13,826 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.24, for a total transaction of $528,706.24. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 87,567 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,348,562.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 86,248 shares of company stock worth $3,614,078 in the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in General Motors by 1.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 111,460,756 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $3,674,861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580,681 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $726,942,000 after buying an additional 2,905,689 shares during the period. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $650,062,000 after buying an additional 3,247,050 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Motors in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $602,280,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of General Motors by 1.3% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,212,672 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $501,562,000 after buying an additional 201,080 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

General Motors Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $52.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.58, a PEG ratio of 0.53 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $42.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.19.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.60. The company had revenue of $43.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $41.09 billion. General Motors had a net margin of 6.13% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.21 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that General Motors will post 9.26 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 7th. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 5.87%.

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.