Traders Buy Large Volume of General Motors Call Options (NYSE:GM)

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Traders acquired 57,363 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 17% compared to the average volume of 48,922 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Motors

In related 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 cost of $50.66 per share, with a total value of $607,920.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 13,714 shares in the company, valued at $694,751.24. This trade represents a 700.12 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Motors

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of General Motors during the 4th quarter valued at about $592,321,000. Amundi boosted its stake in General Motors by 75.5% during the fourth 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 last quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC boosted its stake in General Motors by 39.8% during the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 7,397,404 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $394,060,000 after buying an additional 2,104,528 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in General Motors during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $108,366,000. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its holdings in shares of General Motors by 972.6% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,103,036 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $94,300,000 after acquiring an additional 1,906,964 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on GM. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of General Motors in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. HSBC cut General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com cut General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of General Motors from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of General Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Motors currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.71.

General Motors Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:GM opened at $47.68 on Friday. General Motors has a one year low of $38.94 and a one year high of $61.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $50.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $50.31.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The auto manufacturer reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.17. General Motors had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 3.21%. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Motors will post 11.44 EPS for the current year.

General Motors announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto manufacturer to buy up to 12.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.01%. General Motors’s payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

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.