General Motors (NYSE:GM) Downgraded by Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley cut shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. Morgan Stanley currently has $42.00 target price on the auto manufacturer’s stock, down from their previous target price of $47.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also commented on GM. Wedbush reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $55.00 price target on shares of General Motors in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Nomura Securities upgraded shares of General Motors to a strong sell rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of General Motors from $60.00 to $61.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a hold rating and issued a $53.00 target price on shares of General Motors in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered General Motors from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $54.92.

General Motors Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of GM opened at $46.48 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.18. General Motors has a 52 week low of $26.30 and a 52 week high of $50.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.68, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.43. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $46.02 and a 200-day moving average of $45.51.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The auto manufacturer reported $3.06 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $45.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 9.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 19th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 6th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.03%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 5.87%.

General Motors declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, June 11th that permits the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the auto manufacturer to purchase up to 10.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Rory Harvey sold 12,795 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.02, for a total transaction of $627,210.90. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $417,307.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other General Motors news, EVP Rory Harvey sold 12,795 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $49.02, for a total value of $627,210.90. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,513 shares in the company, valued at $417,307.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CFO Paul A. Jacobson purchased 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $44.11 per share, for a total transaction of $1,102,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 261,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,551,173.92. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of General Motors by 14.6% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 48,767,573 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $2,211,609,000 after buying an additional 6,201,777 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in General Motors in the first quarter valued at approximately $159,750,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Motors by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 18,097,486 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $650,062,000 after purchasing an additional 3,247,050 shares during the period. Putnam Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Motors by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 20,237,820 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $726,942,000 after purchasing an additional 2,905,689 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its stake in shares of General Motors by 1,213.0% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,203,771 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $79,159,000 after buying an additional 2,035,925 shares during the period. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.