Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS Lowers Stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS cut its holdings in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 230,127 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 5,917 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS’s holdings in General Electric were worth $38,383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in General Electric by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,181,801,000 after purchasing an additional 898,296 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,587,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,244,676,000 after purchasing an additional 156,272 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,878,650 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,314,080,000 after purchasing an additional 106,891 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of General Electric by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 6,766,421 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,128,571,000 after purchasing an additional 115,257 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in General Electric by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,732,817 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,122,966,000 after buying an additional 202,233 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $250.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of General Electric in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.31.

General Electric Stock Performance

General Electric stock opened at $205.67 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $197.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $184.53. The stock has a market cap of $220.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.81. General Electric has a 1-year low of $133.99 and a 1-year high of $212.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 14.31%. On average, analysts expect that General Electric will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.