General Motors (NYSE:GM) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U)’s share price gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $60.20, but opened at $57.65. General Motors shares last traded at $57.19, with a volume of 1,423,709 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on General Motors in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on General Motors from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, October 25th. Nomura lowered General Motors from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $34.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley lowered General Motors from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $47.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wedbush increased their price objective on General Motors from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.92.

General Motors Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $61.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.96, a PEG ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $51.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $47.82. The company has a quick ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 1.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.96 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.49 by $0.47. General Motors had a return on equity of 16.30% and a net margin of 6.06%. The business had revenue of $48.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $44.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.28 earnings per share. General Motors’s revenue was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that General Motors will post 10.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.12%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 506,824 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.33, for a total transaction of $27,028,923.92. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 694,548 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,040,244.84. This trade represents a 42.19 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Rory Harvey sold 9,307 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.01, for a total value of $502,671.07. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $459,787.13. This trade represents a 52.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,021,556 shares of company stock valued at $55,974,057. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GM. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in General Motors in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $159,750,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of General Motors by 972.6% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,103,036 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $94,300,000 after buying an additional 1,906,964 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of General Motors by 123.1% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 3,226,027 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $144,655,000 after buying an additional 1,779,897 shares during the period. Artemis Investment Management LLP lifted its position in shares of General Motors by 581.4% during the 3rd quarter. Artemis Investment Management LLP now owns 1,601,856 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $71,827,000 after buying an additional 1,366,768 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in shares of General Motors by 158.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,171,587 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $97,374,000 after buying an additional 1,332,450 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

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.