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

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) 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 trading hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GM shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on General Motors from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on General Motors from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on General Motors from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wedbush lifted their price objective on General Motors from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research assumed coverage on General Motors in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $56.92.

General Motors Trading Down 6.9 %

The company has a market capitalization of $61.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.44 and a beta of 1.40. The business has a fifty 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.28 earnings per share. General Motors’s revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that General Motors will post 10.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Motors news, EVP Craig B. Glidden sold 383,142 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $56.63, for a total transaction of $21,697,331.46. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 122,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,935,192.95. The trade was a 75.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 506,824 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $53.33, for a total value of $27,028,923.92. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 694,548 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,040,244.84. This trade represents a 42.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 1,021,556 shares of company stock worth $55,974,057. Corporate insiders own 0.72% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Motors

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Motors by 0.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,620,533 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,055,395,000 after purchasing an additional 106,878 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in General Motors by 6.1% during the third quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 17,278,448 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $774,766,000 after purchasing an additional 989,750 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in General Motors by 1.1% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,951,561 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $601,730,000 after purchasing an additional 135,717 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in General Motors by 9.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 12,922,021 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $600,291,000 after purchasing an additional 1,091,137 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in General Motors by 3.9% during the third quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. now owns 11,113,063 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $498,310,000 after purchasing an additional 421,989 shares during the last quarter. 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.