General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stake Raised by Waverly Advisors LLC

Waverly Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 54.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,891 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Electric were worth $1,561,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in General Electric by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,311 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,613,000 after buying an additional 6,419 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its position in General Electric by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 261,187 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,335,000 after purchasing an additional 28,985 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas grew its stake in General Electric by 24,042.9% in the fourth quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 10,140 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 10,098 shares in the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its holdings in General Electric by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,783 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,432,000 after buying an additional 22,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC grew its position in General Electric by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 225,814 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $28,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,997 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. 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 research report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.71.

General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of GE stock opened at $170.63 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $185.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.21. General Electric has a 52 week low of $84.42 and a 52 week high of $177.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.14. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $162.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $157.23.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. General Electric had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The firm had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.44 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.68 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.15 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.72%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 112,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,391,821.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

General Electric 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.