Capital Research Global Investors Sells 3,931,380 Shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM)

Capital Research Global Investors lowered its stake in General Motors (NYSE:GM - Free Report) TSE: GMM.U by 36.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,843,409 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock after selling 3,931,380 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors owned about 0.69% of General Motors worth $364,550,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in General Motors during the 4th quarter worth $592,321,000. Amundi boosted its position in General Motors by 75.5% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,914,256 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock worth $250,627,000 after purchasing an additional 2,113,973 shares during the period. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Motors by 39.8% in the fourth quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 7,397,404 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock worth $394,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104,528 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in General Motors during the 4th quarter worth approximately $108,366,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of General Motors by 54.4% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,352,523 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock valued at $178,593,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,936 shares during the period. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on GM. Barclays lowered shares of General Motors from an "overweight" rating to a "negative" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $51.00 price target (down from $64.00) on shares of General Motors in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of General Motors from $64.00 to $53.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. StockNews.com lowered shares of General Motors from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein downgraded shares of General Motors from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Motors currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $54.83.

General Motors Stock Performance

Shares of General Motors stock traded up $0.68 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $45.84. 9,010,030 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 13,393,804. The business has a 50-day moving average of $46.97 and a 200-day moving average of $50.32. General Motors has a 1 year low of $38.96 and a 1 year high of $61.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.45, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.27. 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 - Get Free Report) TSE: GMM.U last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The auto manufacturer reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.17. General Motors had a net margin of 3.21% and a return on equity of 15.29%. As a group, analysts expect that General Motors will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. General Motors's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.80%.

General Motors announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the auto manufacturer to reacquire up to 12.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. acquired 12,000 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $50.66 per share, for a total transaction of $607,920.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 13,714 shares of the company's stock, valued at $694,751.24. This represents a 700.12 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.72% of the company's stock.

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.