General Motors (NYSE:GM) Announces Earnings Results

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The auto manufacturer reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.15, Zacks reports. General Motors had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 3.21%.

General Motors Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of General Motors stock opened at $46.34 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $50.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The stock has a market cap of $44.78 billion, a PE ratio of 7.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.27. General Motors has a 12 month low of $38.96 and a 12 month high of $61.24.

General Motors Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a $0.15 dividend. This is a positive change from General Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.80%.

General Motors announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that authorizes the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the auto manufacturer to buy up to 12.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at General Motors

In other news, Director Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. purchased 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $50.66 per share, for a total transaction of $607,920.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 13,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,751.24. This trade represents a 700.12 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Motors

An institutional investor recently raised its position in General Motors stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) by 456.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,717 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,755 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in General Motors were worth $2,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GM has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on General Motors from $73.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded General Motors from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $50.00 to $35.00 in a report on Monday, April 7th. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of General Motors in a research report on Friday, March 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $105.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of General Motors from $64.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Finally, UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $51.00 price objective (down from $64.00) on shares of General Motors in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.83.

General Motors Company 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.