Morningstar Investment Services LLC Trims Stock Position in General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)

Morningstar Investment Services LLC reduced its position in shares of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM - Free Report) TSE: GMM.U by 45.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 5,820 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock after selling 4,759 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC's holdings in General Motors were worth $274,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in General Motors in the fourth quarter worth $592,321,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of General Motors by 305.6% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,858,959 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock valued at $134,457,000 after acquiring an additional 2,154,037 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of General Motors by 54.4% during the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,352,523 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock valued at $178,593,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,936 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Motors by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,273,136 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock valued at $1,559,380,000 after acquiring an additional 1,170,816 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new position in shares of General Motors during the fourth quarter valued at about $60,198,000. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of General Motors from $50.00 to $56.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $36.00 price target on shares of General Motors in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of General Motors from $45.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. CLSA upgraded shares of General Motors to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 7th. Finally, Wedbush cut their price objective on shares of General Motors from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $56.05.

General Motors Stock Down 7.4%

NYSE:GM traded down $3.93 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $49.28. 24,524,499 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 12,636,920. General Motors Company has a 12-month low of $38.96 and a 12-month high of $61.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $50.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $48.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $47.38 billion, a PE ratio of 7.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.32.

General Motors (NYSE:GM - Get Free Report) TSE: GMM.U last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.52 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $47.12 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $45.87 billion. General Motors had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 14.30%. General Motors's revenue for the quarter was down 1.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.06 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Motors Company will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a dividend of $0.15 per share. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. General Motors's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.65%.

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.