Investors Buy Large Volume of General Motors Put Options (NYSE:GM)

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 66,908 put options on the company. This represents an increase of 32% compared to the average volume of 50,611 put options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GM shares. Hsbc Global Res downgraded General Motors from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of 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 report on Tuesday, January 21st. StockNews.com lowered shares of General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. HSBC downgraded shares of General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $58.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $73.00 price objective on shares of General Motors in a research note on Saturday, March 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.11.

General Motors Stock Performance

GM opened at $47.24 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.98, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $48.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $50.53. General Motors has a 52-week low of $38.96 and a 52-week high of $61.24.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The auto manufacturer reported $1.92 earnings per share 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, equities analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Motors declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the auto manufacturer to repurchase up to 12.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

General Motors Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, March 7th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.02%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.80%.

Insider Transactions at General Motors

In other news, Director Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. purchased 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $50.66 per share, for a total transaction of $607,920.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 13,714 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $694,751.24. This trade represents a 700.12 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of General Motors by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,195,961 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $63,709,000 after acquiring an additional 7,081 shares during the period. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC acquired a new stake in General Motors during the 4th quarter worth about $233,000. Lansforsakringar Fondforvaltning AB publ acquired a new stake in General Motors during the 4th quarter worth about $25,824,000. Centaurus Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Motors by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 14,451 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $770,000 after buying an additional 1,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new position in shares of General Motors in the 4th quarter valued at about $60,198,000. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.