860 Shares in General Motors (NYSE:GM) Purchased by Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc.

Industrial Alliance Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 860 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in General Motors by 14.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 48,767,573 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $2,211,609,000 after buying an additional 6,201,777 shares in the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC boosted 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 valued at $726,942,000 after purchasing an additional 2,905,689 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of General Motors by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 18,097,486 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $650,062,000 after purchasing an additional 3,247,050 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of General Motors during the 4th quarter valued at about $602,280,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Motors by 12.0% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 13,731,249 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $493,226,000 after buying an additional 1,472,297 shares in the last quarter. 92.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, President Mark L. Reuss sold 35,142 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.34, for a total value of $1,628,480.28. Following the transaction, the president now owns 126,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,880,870.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, President Mark L. Reuss sold 35,142 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction on Monday, June 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.34, for a total transaction of $1,628,480.28. Following the completion of the sale, the president now directly owns 126,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,880,870.38. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, President Mark L. Reuss sold 14,858 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $46.01, for a total value of $683,616.58. Following the transaction, the president now owns 162,049 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,455,874.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 391,402 shares of company stock valued at $18,818,536. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on GM. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of General Motors from $58.00 to $54.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and set a $75.00 price objective on shares of General Motors in a report on Wednesday, June 12th. StockNews.com cut General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Nomura Securities raised shares of General Motors to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Nomura downgraded shares of General Motors from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $34.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, August 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $55.17.

General Motors Price Performance

GM stock traded up $0.28 during trading on Friday, hitting $49.75. 15,734,303 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 15,498,768. The stock has a market cap of $56.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.09, a P/E/G ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.43. General Motors has a one year low of $26.30 and a one year high of $50.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $46.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $44.34.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The auto manufacturer reported $3.06 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.67 by $0.39. General Motors had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 6.22%. The firm had revenue of $47.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $45.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.91 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that General Motors will post 9.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Motors declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Tuesday, June 11th that allows the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the auto manufacturer to purchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 6th. 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.