General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Sold by FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co

FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co reduced its stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,379 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 335 shares during the period. FUKOKU MUTUAL LIFE INSURANCE Co’s holdings in General Electric were worth $730,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of General Electric by 0.7% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 30,671 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,784,000 after acquiring an additional 209 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in General Electric by 22.8% in the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,682 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,381,000 after acquiring an additional 1,425 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in General Electric by 18.3% in the third quarter. Traynor Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,903 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $359,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in General Electric in the third quarter valued at $743,000. Finally, Gateway Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the third quarter valued at $208,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GE has been the subject of several research reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on General Electric in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of General Electric in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $211.31.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of GE stock opened at $201.56 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $188.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $181.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. General Electric has a 12 month low of $122.48 and a 12 month high of $212.19. The company has a market capitalization of $216.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.21.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 14.31%. As a group, equities analysts expect that General Electric will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 24.04%.

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.