General Motors (NYSE:GM) Rating Increased to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley

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

GM has been the subject of a number of other reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and issued a $53.00 price objective on shares of General Motors in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of General Motors from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush upped their target price on shares of General Motors from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of General Motors from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, DZ Bank cut shares of General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $49.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.85.

General Motors Stock Performance

Shares of GM opened at $52.30 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $52.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.56. General Motors has a 52 week low of $32.83 and a 52 week high of $61.24. The company has a market capitalization of $57.51 billion, a PE ratio of 5.55, a PEG ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.21.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last posted 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. General Motors had a net margin of 6.06% and a return on equity of 16.30%. The company had revenue of $48.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that General Motors will post 10.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. General Motors’s payout ratio is 5.12%.

Insider Transactions at General Motors

In other General Motors news, EVP Rory Harvey sold 8,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $535,229.19. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $510,865.13. This represents a 51.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, President Mark L. Reuss sold 122,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.16, for a total transaction of $6,745,130.28. Following the transaction, the president now owns 126,907 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,000,190.12. The trade was a 49.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,030,475 shares of company stock valued at $56,509,286. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Motors

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GM. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of General Motors during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Motors during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $27,000. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Motors during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of General Motors in the third quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, EdgeRock Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of General Motors in the second quarter valued at $33,000. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.