General Motors (NYSE:GM) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $55.00 to $60.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. General Motors traded as high as $46.13 and last traded at $46.07, with a volume of 1920341 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $45.62.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on GM. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on General Motors from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of General Motors from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Tigress Financial upped their price objective on shares of General Motors from $86.00 to $88.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 15th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of General Motors from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of General Motors from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $54.65.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Christopher Hatto sold 15,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $620,710.20. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Rory Harvey sold 5,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.04, for a total value of $219,504.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,658 shares in the company, valued at approximately $544,800.32. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Christopher Hatto sold 15,510 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $860,710.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 86,248 shares of company stock worth $3,614,078 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.54% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Motors

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Motors by 1.4% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC lifted its position in General Motors by 16.8% during the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 20,237,820 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $726,942,000 after acquiring an additional 2,905,689 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its position in General Motors by 21.9% during 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 acquiring an additional 3,247,050 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in General Motors during the fourth quarter worth approximately $602,280,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in General Motors by 1.3% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 15,212,672 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $501,562,000 after acquiring an additional 201,080 shares during the last quarter. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Motors Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.60, a P/E/G ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.51.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.60. The firm had revenue of $43.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $41.09 billion. General Motors had a net margin of 6.13% and a return on equity of 14.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.21 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that General Motors will post 9.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 7th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio 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.