ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Purchases 47,741 Shares of General Motors (NYSE:GM)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) by 15.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 355,064 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,741 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in General Motors were worth $12,754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GM. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in shares of General Motors by 10.6% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 157,520 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $6,890,000 after purchasing an additional 15,117 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC lifted its stake in shares of General Motors by 32.7% in the 1st quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 278,485 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $12,181,000 after purchasing an additional 68,683 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Motors by 12.8% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 10,767 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock valued at $471,000 after purchasing an additional 1,225 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Motors by 13.9% in the first quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 4,768 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $208,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. Finally, Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. raised its holdings in shares of General Motors by 5.3% in the first quarter. Candriam Luxembourg S.C.A. now owns 103,800 shares of the auto manufacturer’s stock worth $4,540,000 after buying an additional 5,184 shares during the period. 92.67% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at General Motors

In other news, EVP Gerald Johnson sold 27,122 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.26, for a total value of $1,227,541.72. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 71,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,236,361.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other General Motors news, EVP Gerald Johnson sold 27,122 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $45.26, for a total transaction of $1,227,541.72. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 71,506 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,236,361.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Christopher Hatto sold 15,510 shares of General Motors stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $40.02, for a total value of $620,710.20. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 21,507 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $860,710.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 86,248 shares of company stock valued at $3,614,078 in the last quarter. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Motors Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE GM traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $42.38. 15,506,288 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,394,033. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The company has a market cap of $48.92 billion, a PE ratio of 5.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.52 and a beta of 1.51. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $41.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.80. General Motors has a 52 week low of $26.30 and a 52 week high of $46.04.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) (TSE:GMM.U) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The auto manufacturer reported $1.24 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.16 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $42.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $38.81 billion. General Motors had a return on equity of 14.34% and a net margin of 5.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.12 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Motors will post 9.12 earnings per share for the current year.

General Motors Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, March 1st were given a $0.12 dividend. This is a boost from General Motors’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.09. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 29th. This represents a $0.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.13%. General Motors’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.57%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GM. Piper Sandler began coverage on General Motors in a report on Friday, March 15th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded General Motors from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Mizuho increased their price target on General Motors from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on General Motors from $43.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded General Motors from a “c+” rating to a “b-” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Motors presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $51.57.

General Motors 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.