SPC Financial Inc. Increases Holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

SPC Financial Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,301 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. SPC Financial Inc.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $579,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Halpern Financial Inc. grew its stake in General Electric by 968.4% during the fourth quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its position in shares of General Electric by 90.2% in the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 232 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC boosted its stake in General Electric by 55.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, Bfsg LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Stock Down 2.4 %

GE traded down $3.90 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $161.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,553,837 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,150,291. General Electric has a 1 year low of $84.42 and a 1 year high of $170.80. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $162.71 and its 200-day moving average is $153.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.70, a PEG ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.21. 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 (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.27 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 36.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on GE. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on General Electric from $201.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Argus boosted their target price on General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on General Electric from $165.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $181.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at approximately $18,391,821.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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.