Stock Traders Buy High Volume of Call Options on General Motors (NYSE:GM)

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Investors purchased 75,489 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of 44% compared to the average volume of 52,431 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GM shares. UBS Group raised their price target on General Motors from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Morgan Stanley cut General Motors from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $47.00 to $42.00 in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on General Motors from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut General Motors from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and set a $53.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Finally, Nomura cut General Motors from a “neutral” rating to a “reduce” rating and set a $34.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, eleven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $55.35.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Paul A. Jacobson acquired 25,000 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $44.11 per share, for a total transaction of $1,102,750.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 261,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,551,173.92. This trade represents a 0.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CFO Paul A. Jacobson bought 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $44.11 per share, with a total value of $1,102,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 261,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,551,173.92. This represents a 0.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Rory Harvey sold 2,302 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $47.31, for a total value of $108,907.62. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 10,356 shares in the company, valued at $489,942.36. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Eastern Bank bought a new position in General Motors in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Motors by 29.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 55,969 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $2,510,000 after purchasing an additional 12,729 shares in the last quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Motors by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,212 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $592,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares in the last quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Motors by 15.4% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. now owns 2,827 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $127,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new stake in shares of General Motors during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $269,000. 92.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Motors Stock Performance

Shares of GM stock traded up $3.63 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $52.56. The company had a trading volume of 11,403,521 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,027,666. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $47.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $45.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.23, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.99. General Motors has a one year low of $26.30 and a one year high of $53.13. The company has a market capitalization of $59.97 billion, a PE ratio of 6.43, a PEG ratio of 0.56 and a beta of 1.42.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The auto manufacturer reported $3.06 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.67 by $0.39. The company had revenue of $47.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $45.13 billion. General Motors had a return on equity of 15.77% and a net margin of 6.22%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Motors will post 9.95 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be given a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.91%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.87%.

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.