General Motors (NYSE:GM) Board Approves Share Repurchase Plan

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, February 26th, RTT News reports. The company plans to buyback $6.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the auto manufacturer to buy up to 12.5% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GM. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of General Motors in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Hsbc Global Res lowered General Motors from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. StockNews.com downgraded General Motors from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of General Motors in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on General Motors from $59.00 to $62.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $59.71.

General Motors Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of General Motors stock opened at $47.68 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $47.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 7.75, a PEG ratio of 0.67 and a beta of 1.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $50.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $50.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.98 and a current ratio of 1.13. General Motors has a one year low of $38.94 and a one year high of $61.24.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 28th. The auto manufacturer reported $1.92 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.17. General Motors had a net margin of 3.21% and a return on equity of 15.29%. On average, analysts forecast that General Motors will post 11.44 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 20th. Investors of record on Friday, March 7th will be paid a $0.12 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 7th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.01%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. acquired 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $50.66 per share, with a total value of $607,920.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 13,714 shares in the company, valued at approximately $694,751.24. This represents a 700.12 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.72% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.