General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Acquired by Perpetual Ltd

Perpetual Ltd lifted its holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 46.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 14,390 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 4,571 shares during the quarter. Perpetual Ltd’s holdings in General Electric were worth $2,526,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in General Electric by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,288,136,000 after purchasing an additional 550,996 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in General Electric by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,170,551,000 after acquiring an additional 410,061 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in General Electric by 5.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $990,032,000 after purchasing an additional 434,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of General Electric by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,655,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $849,385,000 after purchasing an additional 426,794 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on GE. TD Cowen upgraded shares of General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on General Electric from $195.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, June 10th. Vertical Research began coverage on General Electric in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. Barclays decreased their price objective on General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

General Electric Trading Up 0.1 %

General Electric stock traded up $0.18 during trading on Thursday, hitting $165.15. The company had a trading volume of 4,956,308 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,335,860. The stock has a market cap of $180.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. General Electric has a 1-year low of $82.11 and a 1-year high of $170.80. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $161.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $149.49.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. General Electric’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that General Electric will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

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.