Blair William & Co. IL Raises Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Blair William & Co. IL raised its stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 181,971 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 7,670 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL's holdings in General Electric were worth $28,928,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its position in General Electric by 97.5% during the second quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new stake in General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in General Electric in the second quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Electric Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:GE traded up $2.61 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $186.16. 5,020,877 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,627,781. The stock has a market capitalization of $203.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.18. General Electric has a one year low of $84.42 and a one year high of $187.99. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $168.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.06. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The business's revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GE. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein began coverage on General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $201.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Electric has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $191.14.

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.