Detroit automaker General Motors (GM) is raising its quarterly dividend by 25% and initiating a new $6 billion U.S. stock buyback program.
Going forward, GM will pay its stockholders a quarterly dividend of $0.15 U.S. per share. That places the distribution at the same level as that of archrival Ford Motor Co. (F).
The increased dividend is expected to take effect with the company’s next payout in April of this year.
At the same time, General Motors will undertake a new $6 billion U.S. share repurchase plan, with $2 billion U.S. in buybacks expected to be completed during this year’s second quarter.
The raised dividend and new stock buybacks arrive as General Motors seeks to reward its shareholders amid slowing automotive sales and profits.
Since 2023, General Motors has announced $16 billion U.S. in stock buybacks, resulting in the retiring of more than one billion outstanding shares.
Despite the shareholder rewards, and reporting strong financial results, GM stock is down nearly 10% this year.
Analysts blame plateauing sales, regulatory uncertainty around trade tariffs, and a lack of potential growth catalysts for the stock’s poor performance.
In addition to the just announced $6 billion U.S. buyback, GM has another $4.3 billion U.S. of capacity remaining under its share repurchase authorizations for additional share repurchases.
At of the end of last year, the automaker had less than one billion shares outstanding.
Despite this year’s pullback, the stock of General Motors is up 17% over the last 12 months and trading at $46.71 U.S. per share.
