Morgan Stanley Upgrades General Motors (NYSE:GM) to “Equal Weight”

Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a report released on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat reports. The firm currently has $54.00 price target on the auto manufacturer’s stock, up from their prior price target of $46.00.

GM has been the topic of several other reports. Wedbush boosted their target price on General Motors from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on General Motors from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $53.00 price objective on shares of General Motors in a report on Tuesday, September 10th. Barclays increased their price objective on General Motors from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on General Motors from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Motors has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $58.89.

General Motors Trading Up 0.1 %

GM stock opened at $52.76 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $58.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.62, a P/E/G ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. General Motors has a 1-year low of $32.83 and a 1-year high of $61.24. The business’s 50 day moving average is $52.41 and its 200-day moving average is $48.47.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $48.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.67 billion. General Motors had a return on equity of 16.30% and a net margin of 6.06%. General Motors’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 10.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Motors news, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 506,824 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.33, for a total value of $27,028,923.92. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 694,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,040,244.84. This trade represents a 42.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Rory Harvey sold 8,919 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total value of $535,229.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,513 shares in the company, valued at $510,865.13. This represents a 51.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 1,030,475 shares of company stock worth $56,509,286. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Motors

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GM. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of General Motors by 175.1% in the second quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 14,518 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $674,000 after acquiring an additional 9,240 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital increased its position in shares of General Motors by 24.7% in the second quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 8,174 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $401,000 after acquiring an additional 1,617 shares during the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft acquired a new stake in shares of General Motors in the second quarter valued at about $716,000. Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Motors in the second quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of General Motors by 178.3% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,510 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $114,000 after acquiring an additional 1,608 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

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.