Dodge & Cox Has $2.36 Billion Holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Dodge & Cox reduced its position in General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) by 0.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,161,304 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 15,732 shares during the quarter. General Electric comprises about 1.4% of Dodge & Cox's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Dodge & Cox owned 1.32% of General Electric worth $2,361,964,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,815,318 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $14,980,297,000 after purchasing an additional 410,172 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in General Electric by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 66,823,968 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $11,145,570,000 after acquiring an additional 965,012 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Electric by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,117,418 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,846,587,000 after acquiring an additional 529,457 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,375,439,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,544,757 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,591,970,000 after purchasing an additional 1,204,910 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group increased their target price on General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Northcoast Research raised shares of General Electric from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $205.00 price target on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of General Electric in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $213.33.

General Electric Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of GE traded down $0.57 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $181.88. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,927,432 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,453,364. The company has a 50 day moving average of $196.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $186.50. General Electric has a 1-year low of $146.78 and a 1-year high of $214.21. The firm has a market cap of $195.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 14.31%. As a group, research analysts predict that General Electric will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. General Electric's payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

General Electric Company Profile

General Electric Company, doing business as GE Aerospace, designs and produces commercial and defense aircraft engines, integrated engine components, electric power, and mechanical aircraft systems. It also offers aftermarket services to support its products. The company operates in the United States, Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa.