General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stake Raised by Rathbones Group PLC

Rathbones Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 225,814 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 5,997 shares during the quarter. Rathbones Group PLC's holdings in General Electric were worth $28,821,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GE. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in General Electric by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,170,551,000 after purchasing an additional 410,061 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in General Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 5.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $990,032,000 after buying an additional 434,736 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,881,752 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $623,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,184,772 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $534,123,000 after purchasing an additional 318,245 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GE shares. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. TD Cowen raised shares of General Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $180.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $176.00.

General Electric Stock Up 0.6 %

GE traded up $0.94 during trading on Friday, hitting $165.14. 11,704,762 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,166,651. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The business's 50 day moving average is $161.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $145.60. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $79.76 and a fifty-two week high of $170.80. The stock has a market cap of $180.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.14, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.25.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that General Electric will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.82, for a total value of $7,377,211.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 112,958 shares in the company, valued at $18,391,821.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company's stock.

About General Electric

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.

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