General Motors Co. CEO Daniel Akerson has bought nearly $1 million of GM stock as a personal investment, according to a regulatory filing made today.

The 62-year-old Akerson bought 30,000 shares of stock Wednesday at $31.33 a share, for a total transaction price of $939,900, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing stated.

The purchase brings the CEO’s total stock holdings to 50,000 shares, or $1.6 million based on the current stock price. Akerson, who became CEO Sept. 1, 2010, also holds another 60,584 units of deferred stock awarded as pay, The Detroit News reported.

The chief executive’s yearly compensation package includes $1.7 million in cash, and another $7.3 million in stock-based compensation.

GM was trading about $31.40 a share this afternoon — more than $2 below its initial offering price of $33 a share.

GM spokesman Jim Cain confirmed Akerson bought the stock as a personal investment, but declined to elaborate other than to say the “investment speaks for itself.”

In the last few months, GM stock has struggled to top its initial offering price from last November, and has instead hovered closer to $31 and $32 a share.

GM reported $3.2 billion in profits for the first quarter, a gain fueled largely by one-time items, such as money generated on GM’s sale of former parts supplier Delphi Automotive, LLC.

Analysts were largely disappointed in the automaker’s North American performance January through March, during which the company spent heavily on marketing and sales incentives. Still, many on Wall Street consider GM stock a good buy with industry sales on the upswing and GM models selling well.

The U.S. Treasury, too, is closely watching GM’s share price.

It still holds a 26 percent stake in GM — about 500 million shares — which it hopes to sell off to recoup the $49.5 billion spent on the automaker’s 2009 bailout.

The U.S. Treasury Department has opted to hold off on selling more shares in General Motors Co. until after July as it waits for the stock to climb, said two people familiar with the decision.

The Treasury, which owns 33 percent of GM, can file as soon as May 22 for a secondary offering. Such a process requires a lengthy review by the Securities and Exchange Commission, so the department will wait until it can use an S-3 filing as soon as July 1 that allows for shares to be sold more quickly, said the people, who asked not to be identified revealing private plans, reported Bloomberg.

Treasury officials decided to wait because the stock has traded below the $33 per-share initial public offering price. While the company beat earnings expectations on May 5, the stock fell 3.1 percent that day. The lower stock price affirmed Treasury’s decision that it would be better to wait until the second-quarter profit is announced, the people said.

“The longer they wait, the better the return for the Treasury will be and for the taxpayer,” said Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “The auto market in the U.S. is recovering, and it’s a fairly consistent recovery. For every quarter delay in Treasury selling back shares, GM will be in a better financial position.”

GM fell 18 cents to $31.12 at 11:00 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

GM management and the Obama administration want to end the nearly two-year period of government ownership, the people said. The Treasury Department doesn’t expect to get the $44 average share price needed to break even on the $49.5 billion investment, they said. Further share sales need to average $53 a share to make up for the $33 per-share IPO price.

The Treasury provided $85 billion of commitments to the auto industry, which included $64 billion to GM and Chrysler Group LLC, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The remaining assistance was provided to finance arms GMAC Inc. and Chrysler Financial Corp. and auto-parts suppliers. GMAC is now known as Ally Financial Inc.

“We’re going to lose money in the auto industry on net, but we did this for the jobs we were going to save, not to maximize return,” Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said at a Detroit Economic Club event on April 28. “We’re not a private investor. Our job was to protect the country.”

Treasury aims to get at least the $33 IPO price and perhaps sell shares in the high $30s or into the $40 range, where most analysts have set their target price, the people said. It also wants to begin selling shares this year, they said.

The Treasury can file an S-3 as soon as July 1, allowing the department to sell whenever the market bears the best price, the people said.

Treasury would then wait for GM to announce a second- quarter profit, meaning the U.S. could sell in the August to September time frame or wait until November, after third-quarter results are known, the people said.

Government ownership is weighing down GM shares, said David Whiston, an analyst with Chicago-based investment-research firm Morningstar Inc.

“A portfolio manager who believes the GM story may stay on the sidelines because when Treasury files to sell, the stock could sink,” he said in a telephone interview. “Other investors don’t want to invest simply because there is government ownership.”

A JPMorgan Chase & Co. analyst, Himanshu Patel, wrote a research report on May 6 suggesting that GM use its cash reserves to buy back shares from the U.S. The Treasury doesn’t plan to do that, the people said.

The administration would take too much criticism if it sold shares to GM at a loss, so officials would rather sell the shares in the open market, the people said.

“What Treasury does with their GM shares is entirely up to them,” said Jim Cain, a GM spokesman. “We’re focused on growing profitably around the world, further strengthening our balance sheet and fully funding our pension plan.”

The New York Times reported earlier that the share sale would be delayed.

DETROIT — More than 100 former General Motors executives are suing the automaker in federal court to recoup pension benefits slashed during the company’s historic bankruptcy.

The retirees, including former vice presidents and high-ranking managers, are trying to recoup benefits plus interest and want a federal judge to order GM to accurately pay future benefits, The Detroit News reported.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit, threatens to undo a cost-cutting move that helped GM shed billions in debt and emerge from bankruptcy court as a new, leaner company. The complaint was filed hours ahead of GM’s expected announcement today that it is investing $2 billion in plants in eight states.

The executives suing include a number of former GM vice presidents, including John G. Middlebrook, who was vice president and general manager of vehicle brand marketing. He also was a general manager of the Chevrolet Division and helped launch GM’s now-shuttered Saturn division.

Others suing include Richard C. Nerod, retired president of GM-Latin America, Africa and Middle East; and Donald W. Hudler, a GM vice president and former president of Saturn.

The retirees and surviving spouses are spread across the U.S., from Michigan to Florida; two are in England.

A GM spokesman, Jim Cain, said the claims were without merit.

“Sacrifices were made by every stakeholder, including former executives, to create a foundation upon which the new GM can thrive,” Cain said. “These former executives previously requested that the administrator of the executive retirement plan review their entitlement to certain benefits. The administrator denied their claim after thoroughly reviewing the matter. We are confident that the plan administrator properly considered and denied their claim.”

The retirees’ lawyers, Kathleen Bogas and Brian Koncius, could not be reached immediately.

In June 2009, General Motors Co. cut its senior executive pensions worth more than $100,000 by two-thirds in bankruptcy reorganization.

For former top executives, GM saved $221 million by ending a portion of its Supplemental Employee Retiree Plan.

Most top executives saw their pensions cut by two-thirds, including former GM CEO Rick Wagoner, whose pension fell from roughly $20 million to about $8.5 million.

Overall, GM saved $4.6 billion in trimming pension and retiree health care benefits during its bankruptcy reorganization, the company said in a filing last year.

GM said it saved $2.7 billion by eliminating health care benefits for salaried retirees 65 or older and eligible for Medicare and capping the amount it will spend on retiree health care for salaried retirees younger than 65.

The Detroit-based automaker is giving salaried retirees $260 a month until they turn 65 and qualify for Medicare. That money can be used for health expenses.

GM is limiting salaried retiree life insurance to $10,000 for current retirees. But it ended the insurance for its former top executives.

The company also saved $3.3 billion by canceling a monthly payment of $66.70 for its hourly pension plan that was to start on Jan. 1.

The retirees challenged the new pension benefits in November, arguing GM is providing benefits that “are substantially less than” what should be provided, according to a complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

GM failed to respond to the retirees’ challenge within 60 days, however, according to the lawsuit. So the retirees filed an appeal with GM’s Executive Compensation Committee.

Janice Uhlig, administrator of the company’s plan, responded a week later, telling them the claims were denied, according to the lawsuit.

General Motors Co.’s first-quarter North American profit disappointed investors as increased spending on sales incentives, marketing and engineering costs reduced the benefit of soaring revenue.

Excluding some items, profit was 95 cents a share, beating the 91-cent average estimate of 13 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Net income more than tripled to $3.37 billion, or $1.77 a share, from $1.07 billion, or 55 cents, a year earlier, Detroit-based GM said today in a statement.

While North American sales in the quarter rose $2.82 billion, higher operating expenses cut the company’s profit by $700 million, GM said today. The rising costs denied investors the results they expected and contributed to the stock’s biggest decline in more than two months, Adam Jonas, an analyst with Morgan Stanley, said in a telephone interview.

“The market thought that they would beat the consensus by more than 5 percent,” said Jonas, who’s based in New York. “Nobody owns GM to meet numbers. They own GM to beat numbers by a significant amount.”

GM fell $1.02, or 3.1 percent, to $32.02 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading, the biggest decline since Feb. 24. The shares have slid 13 percent this year.

The quarterly profit was GM’s fifth straight and its largest net income since at least 1990. GM’s total first-quarter revenue rose 15 percent to $36.2 billion.

Engineering and marketing costs each rose $200 million, and incentive spending cut profit by $300 million, GM said.

Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson said on a call with analysts that the first-quarter results were “on plan” and the company must focus on reducing costs.

“We have a lot of work to do to leverage our scale and get the most out of our brands,” Akerson said. “A key part of improving our leverage is controlling costs.”

GM’s U.S. sales climbed 25 percent to 592,545 light vehicles in the first quarter, outpacing the industry’s 20 percent gain, according to Autodata Corp., a researcher based in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey. The company spent an average of $3,566 per vehicle on sales incentives in the period, the most among the eight largest automakers by U.S. sales, Autodata said.

GM said it earned $2.9 billion before interest and taxes in North America in the period.

Earnings on that basis in GM’s international operations, which include China, fell to $480 million in the first quarter from $908 million a year earlier. Sales for the unit rose 8.2 percent to about 855,000 vehicles in the quarter, GM said.

The pretax loss in GM’s European operations narrowed to $390 million from $477 million. GM has said it plans to break even in Europe by the end of 2011.

Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said GM’s European operations are showing progress and that the region would have broken even if not for a $395 million charge to goodwill.

GM also took a charge of $106 million in its international operations related to its joint venture in India.

The automaker reported a gain of $1.6 billion from the sale of its stake in former parts unit Delphi Automotive LLP. GM posted a gain of $339 million from the sale of preferred stock in Ally Financial Inc., formerly the automaker’s GMAC Inc. unit. In total, special items boosted GM’s net income by $1.47 billion in the first quarter.

The U.S. Treasury Department, which owns 33 percent of GM, plans to evaluate the earnings before deciding whether to sell more of its investment, a person familiar with the matter said last month. The department wants to sell its stake for at least the IPO price and would prefer to sell in the high-$30 range, a person familiar with the matter has said.

The U.S. took a 61 percent ownership of GM as part of the automaker’s $50 billion government-led bailout and bankruptcy reorganization in 2009. The Treasury sold shares equal to a 28 percent stake during the November IPO of the company. The department can sell more shares starting May 22.

GM may retake the crown for most global auto sales from Toyota Motor Corp. this year, said Jeff Schuster, executive director of forecasting for J.D. Power & Associates, a research firm in Westlake Village, California. Toyota has lost production because of plant shutdowns following the March 11 earthquake in Japan. GM also is better positioned to expand sales in China, he said.

GM increased first-quarter North American truck production 18 percent from a year earlier to about 502,000 units, while car output rose 16 percent to about 284,000 vehicles.

General Motors Co. tripled its profit in the first quarter, helped by stronger demand but mostly because the auto maker made money off the sale of its stakes in two former subsidiaries.

Without those asset sales, GM’s earnings disappointed investors and highlighted difficulties in its core North American operations and other units around the world, reported The Wall Street Journal.

GM’s income rose to $3.2 billion, or $1.77 a share, from $865 million or 55 cents a share, lifted by $1.5 billion in gains on sale of holdings in Delphi Automotive LLP and Ally Financial. Without those gains, its earnings before interest and taxes rose 18 percent to $2 billion, and North American profit climbed just 8 percent to $1.3 billion, less than analysts had expected. Revenue increased 15 percent, to $36.2 billion, from $31.5 billion.

“We are making steady progress, but there is more work to do,” Chairman and Chief Executive Daniel Akerson said on a conference call Thursday.

The auto maker expressed optimism about the rest of 2011, saying it expects a rise in operating profit for the full year. A gain would build on the $4.7 billion that GM made in 2010, its most profitable year since 1999.

Mr. Akerson, however, said “intensive cost cutting” is essential to ensure the future profit growth as rising commodity costs push up the prices GM is paying for finished parts and materials. The company also plans to pare incentive spending for the rest of the year. High discounts early in the year were one of the problems that hurt its North American profits.

Chief Financial Officer, Daniel Ammann, said GM’s forecast factors in high fuel prices, now at more than $4 a gallon in most of the United States. High gas prices tend to drive down sales of high-margin pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles.

Even though consumers are downsizing their purchases, he said, many are opting for smaller SUVs, rather than cars, and those who are switching to cars are paying more for them. “It isn’t all about people moving from large SUVs into cars,” Mr. Ammann said.

In North America, GM had the benefit of rising demand. Truck production in the first quarter increased 18 percent, and car production 16 percent. Higher production lifts revenues because auto companies book revenue when a vehicle leaves the factory.

But steep discounts offered in January and February eroded its margins. Lower pricing cut its operating profit by $300 million, the company said. Including its special gains, GM’s profit per vehicle in North America was $3,687; without them, it made just $1,653 per vehicle. Ford Motor Co. made about $2,806 a vehicle in North America in the first quarter.

GM shares were off 2.3 percent, or 77 cents, to $32.27 in recent New York Stock Exchange trading.

“A decent quarter but short of the upside we were looking for,” Citibank analyst Itay Michaeli said in a note.

General Motors Co.’s finance unit said first-quarter profit rose 22 percent as the volume of loans it originated surged from a year earlier.

Net income climbed to $77.2 million from $63.2 million a year earlier, Fort Worth, Texas-based General Motors Financial Co. said today in a statement, reported The Detroit News.

GM Financial’s loan originations climbed 82 percent from a year earlier to $1.14 billion in the quarter. The company started $310.9 million in leases in the quarter as it expanded such programs for GM, the largest U.S. automaker.

GM acquired the lender, formerly known as AmeriCredit Corp., last year before Chief Executive Officer Dan Akerson led the automaker through an initial public offering. More than $23 billion of common and preferred shares were sold in the IPO that reduced the U.S. and Canadian governments’ stakes in Detroit-based GM.

Leases accounted for 16 percent of GM’s U.S. sales through March, trailing the industry average of 22 percent, Don Johnson, vice president of U.S. sales, said on an April 1 conference call. Leases were 5 percent of GM’s sales in March 2010, he said.

GM Financial offered leases in 30 U.S. states at the end of April, up from 21 at the end of March, Tom Henderson, a spokesman, said today in a telephone interview. The lender will offer leasing across the country by mid-year, Johnson has said.

Sales to subprime buyers in April accounted for about 7 percent of GM’s deliveries, compared with 5.5 percent for the industry, Johnson said yesterday on a conference call.

GM will begin to establish wholesale financing at GM Financial “over time,” Chief Financial Officer Daniel Ammann said at an investor conference last month. Wholesale lending involves financing dealers’ inventory.

“We expect GM Financial to be active in subprime, active in lease, active in wholesale over time,” Ammann said April 20. The market for buyers with prime credit is “well served” by other lenders, and GM doesn’t see a need to underwrite loans in that market, he said.

GM Financial competes with Ally Financial Inc., which was formerly the automaker’s GMAC Inc. finance arm. Ally handled 38 percent of retail lending to GM buyers last year, the lender said in February.

GM Financial will “bring competition to the market” and help the automaker continue to offer leases when other lenders pull back, Ammann said.

“If leasing goes away, we know that we can continue to do it,” he said. “But having said all of that, we also want the third parties, of which Ally is the largest and most significant, to do a majority of our financing for us. We don’t want to run a $100 billion balance sheet.”