General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Bought by Meeder Advisory Services Inc.

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,653 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the period. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $3,611,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $2,375,439,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in General Electric by 505.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,908,434 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $359,882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,413 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at $194,208,000. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Electric by 206.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,444,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $278,247,000 after buying an additional 973,135 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,181,801,000 after buying an additional 898,296 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on GE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.31.

General Electric Stock Performance

GE opened at $203.90 on Wednesday. General Electric has a 1-year low of $133.99 and a 1-year high of $214.21. The stock has a market cap of $218.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $202.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $187.04. 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 (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.04%.

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.