Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in General Motors (NYSE:GM)

Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC trimmed its position in shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) by 88.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,660 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after selling 121,692 shares during the quarter. Waters Parkerson & CO. LLC’s holdings in General Motors were worth $887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Motors in the 4th quarter valued at about $592,321,000. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of General Motors by 75.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,914,256 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $250,627,000 after buying an additional 2,113,973 shares during the period. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC raised its position in shares of General Motors by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 7,397,404 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $394,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104,528 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in General Motors during the fourth quarter worth approximately $108,366,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in General Motors by 54.4% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,352,523 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $178,593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,936 shares during the last quarter. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $43.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on General Motors from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $36.00 target price on General Motors in a research note on Monday, May 5th. BNP Paribas upgraded General Motors to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, Citigroup assumed coverage on General Motors in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 price objective for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $54.56.

General Motors Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:GM opened at $50.36 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $46.85 and its 200-day simple moving average is $50.00. General Motors has a 52-week low of $38.96 and a 52-week high of $61.24. The company has a market capitalization of $48.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.19, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.36. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The auto manufacturer reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.15. General Motors had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 3.21%. The firm had revenue of $44.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.64 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.62 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Motors will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from General Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.19%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. General Motors’s payout ratio is currently 8.65%.

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

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.