Hilltop National Bank Increases Holdings in General Motors (NYSE:GM)

Hilltop National Bank increased its stake in shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,876 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 249 shares during the quarter. Hilltop National Bank’s holdings in General Motors were worth $206,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Range Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in General Motors in the fourth quarter valued at $1,669,000. Fortem Financial Group LLC raised its position in General Motors by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 27,322 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,455,000 after purchasing an additional 630 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in General Motors by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 18,200 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $970,000 after purchasing an additional 2,672 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in General Motors by 104.7% in the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,466 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $78,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in General Motors by 1.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,268,096 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $56,861,000 after purchasing an additional 13,206 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

General Motors Stock Down 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE GM opened at $49.85 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $54.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.40 and a beta of 1.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.03. The business has a 50-day moving average of $53.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $49.45. General Motors has a 1 year low of $34.32 and a 1 year high of $61.24.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.96 earnings per share 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 previous year, the business earned $2.28 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that General Motors will post 10.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were issued a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.96%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. General Motors’s payout ratio is currently 5.12%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GM. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on General Motors from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on General Motors from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on General Motors from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley raised General Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Finally, HSBC cut General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $58.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.58.

Insider Activity

In other General Motors news, EVP Rory Harvey sold 8,919 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $535,229.19. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,513 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $510,865.13. This represents a 51.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, President Mark L. Reuss sold 122,283 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $55.16, for a total value of $6,745,130.28. Following the sale, the president now directly owns 126,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,000,190.12. This represents a 49.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 1,030,475 shares of company stock valued at $56,509,286. Insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

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.