General Motors (NYSE:GM) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) saw a large growth in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 34,720,000 shares, a growth of 17.1% from the October 31st total of 29,650,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 13,290,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 3.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

General Motors Stock Performance

General Motors stock traded down $0.88 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $54.16. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,012,390 shares, compared to its average volume of 14,858,223. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $51.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $48.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 1.03 and a current ratio of 1.21. General Motors has a 12-month low of $32.60 and a 12-month high of $61.24. The company has a market capitalization of $59.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.87, a PEG ratio of 0.42 and a beta of 1.42.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.49 by $0.47. General Motors had a return on equity of 16.30% and a net margin of 6.06%. The company had revenue of $48.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $44.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.28 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that General Motors will post 10.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 6th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 6th. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is presently 5.12%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GM. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on General Motors from $53.00 to $61.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of General Motors from $58.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of General Motors from $58.00 to $62.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of General Motors from $33.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of General Motors from $55.00 to $60.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $56.92.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Rory Harvey sold 8,919 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.01, for a total transaction of $535,229.19. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,513 shares in the company, valued at $510,865.13. This trade represents a 51.16 % 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 company’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 owns 694,548 shares in the company, valued at $37,040,244.84. This represents a 42.19 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,030,475 shares of company stock worth $56,509,286 in the last quarter. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GM. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of General Motors in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its position in shares of General Motors by 98.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 330,611 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $14,993,000 after buying an additional 164,083 shares in the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in General Motors by 13.2% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,460 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 752 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in General Motors by 46.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,172 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $658,000 after acquiring an additional 4,467 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank raised its position in General Motors by 27.6% during the second quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 37,306 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $1,733,000 after purchasing an additional 8,061 shares in the last quarter. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.