General Motors (NYSE:GM) Declares Dividend Increase - $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. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be given a dividend of 0.15 per share by the auto manufacturer on Thursday, June 19th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 4.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect General Motors to earn $11.82 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.48 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 4.1%.

General Motors Price Performance

GM traded down $0.21 on Thursday, reaching $45.03. The company had a trading volume of 15,872,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 13,419,015. The company has a fifty day moving average of $46.79 and a 200-day moving average of $50.25. The company has a market capitalization of $43.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.32, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.27. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38. 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 29th. The auto manufacturer reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $44.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $42.64 billion. General Motors had a net margin of 3.21% and a return on equity of 15.29%. General Motors's revenue was up 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.62 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Motors

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in General Motors stock. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM - Free Report) TSE: GMM.U by 456.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,717 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock after acquiring an additional 31,755 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC's holdings in General Motors were worth $2,062,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.67% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GM has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of General Motors from $63.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on shares of General Motors from $73.00 to $63.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. StockNews.com lowered shares of General Motors from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $51.00 target price (down from $64.00) on shares of General Motors in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Barclays cut shares of General Motors from an "overweight" rating to a "negative" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Five equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Motors has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $54.83.

General Motors announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto manufacturer to repurchase up to 12.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.