Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 147,889 Shares of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of General Motors Company (NYSE:GM - Free Report) TSE: GMM.U by 11.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,108,646 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock after selling 147,889 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of General Motors worth $52,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GM. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of General Motors by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 29,273,136 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock worth $1,559,380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,170,816 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Motors by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,796,969 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock worth $1,264,567,000 after purchasing an additional 176,436 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of General Motors by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,066,883 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock valued at $749,382,000 after buying an additional 228,408 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of General Motors during the fourth quarter worth $592,321,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of General Motors by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,930,178 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock valued at $582,251,000 after purchasing an additional 822,454 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 92.67% of the company's stock.

General Motors Price Performance

Shares of General Motors stock traded up $0.38 on Tuesday, hitting $52.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 7,522,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 12,740,226. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $48.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $48.71. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The company has a market capitalization of $50.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.32. General Motors Company has a 52-week low of $38.96 and a 52-week high of $61.24.

General Motors (NYSE:GM - Get Free Report) TSE: GMM.U last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The auto manufacturer reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $44.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.64 billion. General Motors had a net margin of 3.08% and a return on equity of 14.30%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.62 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that General Motors Company will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.15 per share. This is a positive change from General Motors's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. General Motors's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.65%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $36.00 price target on shares of General Motors in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Wedbush cut their price target 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. UBS Group dropped their price target on General Motors from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on General Motors from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Finally, CLSA raised shares of General Motors to a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Motors currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $53.35.

General Motors 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.