General Motors (NYSE:GM) Raises Dividend to $0.15 Per Share

General Motors (NYSE:GM - Get Free Report) TSE: GMM.U declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, April 29th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a dividend of 0.15 per share by the auto manufacturer on Thursday, June 19th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This is a 25.0% increase from General Motors's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12.

General Motors has a payout ratio of 6.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect General Motors to earn $11.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.60 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 5.1%.

General Motors Stock Performance

Shares of GM traded up $0.22 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $45.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,644,783 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,426,276. The stock's 50-day moving average is $46.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $50.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.74 billion, a PE ratio of 7.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.13. General Motors has a one year low of $38.96 and a one year high of $61.24.

General Motors (NYSE:GM - Get Free Report) TSE: GMM.U last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.64 billion. General Motors had a net margin of 3.21% and a return on equity of 15.29%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.62 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 11.44 EPS for the current year.

General Motors declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the auto manufacturer to repurchase up to 12.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on General Motors from $64.00 to $53.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 27th. Wedbush reduced their target price on General Motors from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday. Sanford C. Bernstein cut shares of General Motors from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $50.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Monday, April 7th. StockNews.com lowered shares of General Motors from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of General Motors from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $53.94.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

An institutional investor recently raised its position in General Motors stock. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM - Free Report) TSE: GMM.U by 456.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 38,717 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 31,755 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in General Motors were worth $2,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.67% of the company's stock.

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.