General Motors (NYSE:GM) Board of Directors Announces Share Repurchase Program

General Motors (NYSE:GM - Get Free Report) TSE: GMM.U declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. The company plans to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto manufacturer to purchase up to 12.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GM. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of General Motors from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of General Motors from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded General Motors from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $60.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley upgraded General Motors from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut General Motors from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $59.71.

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General Motors Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GM traded up $1.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $49.22. The company had a trading volume of 21,378,992 shares, compared to its average volume of 10,978,076. The stock has a market cap of $48.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 8.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.40. General Motors has a one year low of $38.94 and a one year high of $61.24. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $50.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $50.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.98.

General Motors (NYSE:GM - Get Free Report) TSE: GMM.U last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 28th. The auto manufacturer reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.17. General Motors had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 3.21%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that General Motors will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. General Motors's payout ratio is 7.80%.

Insider Activity

In other General Motors news, Director Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. purchased 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $50.66 per share, with a total value of $607,920.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 13,714 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $694,751.24. The trade was a 700.12 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate 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.