First Trust Advisors LP Acquires 113,905 Shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM)

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,005,883 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 113,905 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in General Motors were worth $53,583,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Forum Financial Management LP boosted its position in General Motors by 58.1% during the fourth quarter. Forum Financial Management LP now owns 20,102 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $1,071,000 after purchasing an additional 7,389 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Motors by 320.6% during the 4th quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC now owns 66,407 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $3,538,000 after buying an additional 50,617 shares during the period. Commerce Bank raised its holdings in General Motors by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 41,459 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $2,209,000 after acquiring an additional 316 shares during the period. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in General Motors by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Alpha DNA Investment Management LLC now owns 17,615 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $938,000 after acquiring an additional 1,319 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in General Motors by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,732,489 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $92,290,000 after acquiring an additional 253,461 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

General Motors Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GM opened at $45.11 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $46.97 and its 200-day moving average is $50.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.13. General Motors has a 52 week low of $38.96 and a 52 week high of $61.24. The company has a market capitalization of $44.88 billion, a PE ratio of 7.33, a P/E/G ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.27.

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

General Motors announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the auto manufacturer to repurchase up to 12.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

General Motors Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 7th were issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. General Motors’s payout ratio is presently 7.80%.

Insider Activity at General Motors

In other news, Director Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. acquired 12,000 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $50.66 per share, with a total value of $607,920.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 13,714 shares in the company, valued at $694,751.24. This represents a 700.12 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GM has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein cut General Motors from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $50.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Piper Sandler upped their price target on General Motors from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com lowered shares of General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of General Motors from $73.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of General Motors from $64.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 27th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $56.72.

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.