Occidental Asset Management LLC Acquires 2,094 Shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM)

Occidental Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) by 7.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,722 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after buying an additional 2,094 shares during the period. Occidental Asset Management LLC’s holdings in General Motors were worth $1,583,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI bought a new position in shares of General Motors in the 2nd quarter worth $231,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV grew its stake in General Motors by 14.6% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 134,537 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,251,000 after purchasing an additional 17,159 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC raised its holdings in General Motors by 15.7% in the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 146,123 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $6,784,000 after purchasing an additional 19,798 shares in the last quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of General Motors during the second quarter valued at about $244,000. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Motors by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 1,160,892 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $53,935,000 after buying an additional 28,688 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 92.67% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on General Motors from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Morgan Stanley raised General Motors from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $46.00 to $54.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on General Motors from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 25th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded General Motors from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $59.68.

General Motors Stock Performance

NYSE GM opened at $51.80 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 5.52, a PEG ratio of 0.36 and a beta of 1.42. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $53.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $49.58. 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 fifty-two week low of $34.32 and a fifty-two week high of $61.24.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last announced its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $48.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $44.67 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.28 earnings per share. General Motors’s quarterly revenue was up 10.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Motors will post 10.34 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 19th. Investors of record on Friday, December 6th were paid a $0.12 dividend. This represents a $0.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, December 6th. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is currently 5.12%.

Insider Activity at General Motors

In other news, EVP Rory Harvey sold 9,307 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $54.01, for a total value of $502,671.07. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 8,513 shares in the company, valued at $459,787.13. The trade was a 52.23 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Mary T. Barra sold 506,824 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 23rd. The shares were 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 owns 694,548 shares in the company, valued at $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 1,030,475 shares of company stock worth $56,509,286. 0.72% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.