John G Ullman & Associates Inc. Invests $252,000 in General Motors (NYSE:GM)

John G Ullman & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 5,550 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GM. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of General Motors in the fourth quarter worth about $602,280,000. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of General Motors by 21.9% in the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 18,097,486 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $650,062,000 after purchasing an additional 3,247,050 shares during the last quarter. Putnam Investments LLC increased its position in shares of General Motors by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Putnam Investments LLC now owns 20,237,820 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $726,942,000 after purchasing an additional 2,905,689 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in shares of General Motors by 1,213.0% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 2,203,771 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $79,159,000 after purchasing an additional 2,035,925 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP increased its position in shares of General Motors by 1,514.2% in the fourth quarter. Caxton Associates LP now owns 1,755,334 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $63,052,000 after purchasing an additional 1,646,594 shares during the last quarter. 92.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Motors

In other news, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 626,316 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.46, for a total value of $27,219,693.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,198,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,093,242.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 626,316 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.46, for a total value of $27,219,693.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,198,648 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $52,093,242.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, President Mark L. Reuss sold 150,000 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.44, for a total value of $6,516,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the president now directly owns 176,907 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,684,840.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 1,152,621 shares of company stock valued at $51,818,111. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GM shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of General Motors from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 1st. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of General Motors from $61.00 to $64.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. TheStreet upgraded shares of General Motors from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of General Motors from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 25th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of General Motors from $54.00 to $56.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Motors has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $55.96.

General Motors Trading Up 1.5 %

GM stock traded up $0.71 on Friday, reaching $48.64. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,480,375 shares, compared to its average volume of 15,726,105. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.22, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm has a market cap of $55.50 billion, a PE ratio of 5.85, a PEG ratio of 0.49 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $45.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $42.06. General Motors has a 12-month low of $26.30 and a 12-month high of $49.35.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The auto manufacturer reported $2.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.60. The business had revenue of $43.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $41.09 billion. General Motors had a return on equity of 14.40% and a net margin of 6.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.21 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Motors will post 9.43 EPS for the current year.

General Motors announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, June 11th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto manufacturer to purchase up to 10.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 7th were given a dividend of $0.12 per share. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.99%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, June 7th. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.87%.

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.