Olstein Capital Management L.P. Acquires 22,000 Shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM)

Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) by 18.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 144,000 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,000 shares during the quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in General Motors were worth $6,772,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Motors during the fourth quarter valued at about $592,321,000. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of General Motors by 75.5% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 4,914,256 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $250,627,000 after acquiring an additional 2,113,973 shares during the last quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC boosted its holdings in General Motors by 39.8% during the 4th quarter. ACR Alpine Capital Research LLC now owns 7,397,404 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $394,060,000 after acquiring an additional 2,104,528 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in General Motors during the 4th quarter worth approximately $108,366,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in General Motors by 54.4% in the 4th quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 3,352,523 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $178,593,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,936 shares during the period. 92.67% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Motors Price Performance

NYSE GM opened at $47.50 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $46.80 and its 200 day moving average is $49.30. General Motors has a fifty-two week low of $38.96 and a fifty-two week high of $61.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.13. The company has a market capitalization of $45.67 billion, a PE ratio of 7.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.34.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 29th. The auto manufacturer reported $2.78 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.63 by $0.15. General Motors had a return on equity of 15.29% and a net margin of 3.21%. The company had revenue of $44.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $42.64 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.62 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that General Motors will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors declared that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that allows the company to repurchase $6.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the auto manufacturer to repurchase up to 12.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

General Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 19th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, June 6th. This is a positive change from General Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.12. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.65%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GM. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of General Motors from $73.00 to $63.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $36.00 price target on shares of General Motors in a report on Monday, May 5th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of General Motors from $53.00 to $58.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 16th. Wedbush cut their target price on General Motors from $60.00 to $55.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $43.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $54.56.

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.