General Motors (NYSE:GM) Short Interest Update

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 36,710,000 shares, an increase of 7.6% from the November 30th total of 34,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 12,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.9 days. Approximately 3.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

General Motors Stock Down 0.7 %

General Motors stock opened at $53.27 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $58.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.03. General Motors has a fifty-two week low of $34.32 and a fifty-two week high of $61.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $53.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $49.28.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.47. The business had revenue of $48.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.67 billion. General Motors had a net margin of 6.06% and a return on equity of 16.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that General Motors will post 10.35 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.12%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Motors news, EVP Rory Harvey sold 8,919 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was 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, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 506,824 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.33, for a total transaction of $27,028,923.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 694,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,040,244.84. The trade was a 42.19 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 1,030,475 shares of company stock worth $56,509,286. 0.72% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Motors

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GM. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its stake in General Motors by 972.6% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,103,036 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $94,300,000 after buying an additional 1,906,964 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in General Motors by 123.1% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,226,027 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $144,655,000 after buying an additional 1,779,897 shares during the last quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP grew its stake in General Motors by 581.4% during the third quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,601,856 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $71,827,000 after buying an additional 1,366,768 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in General Motors by 158.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,171,587 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $97,374,000 after buying an additional 1,332,450 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in General Motors by 9.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,922,021 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $600,291,000 after buying an additional 1,091,137 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GM shares. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of General Motors from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. DZ Bank cut shares of General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $49.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, October 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of General Motors from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of General Motors from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of General Motors from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nine have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $58.70.

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.