General Motors’ shares surged about 6% in morning trading after announcing a 25% dividend increase and a new $6 billion share buyback program. The U.S. automaker plans to repurchase $2 billion of shares by the first half of the year, with the remaining buybacks at the company’s discretion. The quarterly dividend will rise from 12 cents to 15 cents per share starting with the next planned dividend in April 2025. “GM wants to show a lot of conviction to the market that they believe in the future of the company, regardless of things like cyclicality” or tariff threats from the Trump administration, said David Whiston, an analyst at Morningstar. GM had previously announced a dividend hike and a $10 billion share buyback in November 2023, completing that program in Q4 and repurchasing 87 million shares, reducing the share count to 995 million. In June 2024, GM approved another $6 billion buyback, with $300 million still outstanding. “Moving forward, we expect to continue returning excess capital to our shareholders and further reducing the share count,” said CFO Paul Jacobson on the Q4 earnings call. GM is balancing shareholder returns with investments in its electric vehicle lineup, expecting EV operating losses to narrow by $2 billion this year. GM projects 2025 net income between $11.2 billion and $12.5 billion, with capital spending estimated at $10 billion to $11 billion. — news fromReuters
