Short Interest in General Motors (NYSE:GM) Rises By 7.6%

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) saw a large growth in short interest in December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 36,710,000 shares, a growth of 7.6% from the November 30th total of 34,130,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 12,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.9 days. Currently, 3.3% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Motors news, EVP Rory Harvey sold 9,307 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $54.01, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 52.23 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Craig B. Glidden sold 383,142 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $56.63, for a total value of $21,697,331.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 122,465 shares in the company, valued at $6,935,192.95. The trade was a 75.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 1,030,475 shares of company stock worth $56,509,286. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GM. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in General Motors during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Motors during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in General Motors in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Truvestments Capital LLC bought a new stake in General Motors in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Fairscale Capital LLC acquired a new position in General Motors during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. 92.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GM has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of General Motors from $38.00 to $35.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of General Motors from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on General Motors from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on General Motors from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Motors currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $58.70.

General Motors Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE GM traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $53.27. The stock had a trading volume of 4,733,422 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,509,685. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.21 and a quick ratio of 1.03. General Motors has a fifty-two week low of $34.32 and a fifty-two week high of $61.24. The firm has a market cap of $58.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.39 and a beta of 1.42. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $53.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $49.28.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.96 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.47. General Motors had a net margin of 6.06% and a return on equity of 16.30%. 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 firm posted $2.28 earnings per share. General Motors’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that General Motors will post 10.35 EPS for the current year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 6th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 6th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.90%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is 5.12%.

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.