General Motors (NYSE:GM) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-three brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation, nine have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $54.56.

GM has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group dropped their target price on General Motors from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Citigroup started coverage on General Motors in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. BNP Paribas upgraded General Motors to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $36.00 target price on General Motors in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Cowen assumed coverage on shares of General Motors in a research report on Thursday, March 6th. They set a “buy” rating for the company.

Institutional Trading of General Motors

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GM. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in General Motors by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,341,336 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $4,672,023,000 after purchasing an additional 6,395,375 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in General Motors by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,273,136 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,559,380,000 after buying an additional 1,170,816 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Motors by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,796,969 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,264,567,000 after acquiring an additional 176,436 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of General Motors by 2.2% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,383,079 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $676,322,000 after acquiring an additional 316,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of General Motors by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,746,152 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $646,482,000 after acquiring an additional 594,217 shares during the period. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Motors Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:GM opened at $47.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $46.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.38. General Motors has a 52-week low of $38.96 and a 52-week high of $61.24. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The auto manufacturer reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.15. General Motors had a net margin of 3.21% and a return on equity of 15.29%. The firm had revenue of $44.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.64 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that General Motors will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be issued a $0.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. This is a boost from General Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.65%.

General Motors declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the auto manufacturer to purchase up to 12.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.