Northern Trust Corp Boosts Position in General Motors (NYSE:GM)

Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in General Motors (NYSE:GM - Free Report) TSE: GMM.U by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,930,178 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock after buying an additional 822,454 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp owned about 1.10% of General Motors worth $582,251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GM. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Motors by 19.7% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,164 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock valued at $488,000 after purchasing an additional 1,510 shares during the period. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC acquired a new position in General Motors in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,404,000. SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new position in shares of General Motors during the 4th quarter worth approximately $474,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of General Motors by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 463,848 shares of the auto manufacturer's stock worth $25,178,000 after buying an additional 39,474 shares during the period. Finally, Avantra Family Wealth Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Motors in the 4th quarter valued at $1,044,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.67% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of General Motors from $51.00 to $50.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Friday. TD Cowen began coverage on General Motors in a research note on Friday, March 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $105.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on General Motors from $64.00 to $53.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Wedbush reduced their price objective on General Motors from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, StockNews.com lowered General Motors from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $53.94.

General Motors Stock Performance

Shares of General Motors stock traded up $0.22 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $45.27. 11,644,783 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 13,426,276. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 7.36, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $46.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $50.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.98. General Motors has a 12-month low of $38.96 and a 12-month high of $61.24.

General Motors (NYSE:GM - Get Free Report) TSE: GMM.U last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The auto manufacturer reported $2.78 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.63 by $0.15. General Motors had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 3.21%. The business had revenue of $44.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.64 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.62 earnings per share. General Motors's revenue for the quarter was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 11.44 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Motors declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto manufacturer to purchase up to 12.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

General Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This is an increase from General Motors's previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, June 6th. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.33%. General Motors's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.65%.

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.