General Motors (NYSE:GM) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) gapped down prior to trading on Thursday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on the stock from $64.00 to $53.00. The stock had previously closed at $50.95, but opened at $46.99. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. General Motors shares last traded at $46.73, with a volume of 11,803,037 shares traded.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $73.00 target price on General Motors in a research report on Saturday, March 1st. HSBC cut General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $58.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of General Motors from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $56.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler lifted their target price on shares of General Motors from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. purchased 12,000 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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. The trade was a 700.12 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Motors

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of General Motors by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,195,961 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $63,709,000 after purchasing an additional 7,081 shares during the last quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC bought a new stake in General Motors in the 4th quarter valued at $233,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ bought a new position in General Motors during the fourth quarter worth $25,824,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Motors by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 14,451 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $770,000 after purchasing an additional 1,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of General Motors in the fourth quarter valued at about $60,198,000. Institutional investors own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

General Motors Trading Down 8.6 %

The company has a market cap of $46.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.69, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.42. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $49.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.55. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. General Motors’s payout ratio is 7.80%.

General Motors announced that its board has authorized a stock 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 purchase up to 12.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.