Investment Partners LTD. Purchases 75 Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Investment Partners LTD. increased its holdings in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,570 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. Investment Partners LTD.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $262,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GE. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in General Electric by 91.8% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,465,598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,719,894 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 505.8% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,908,434 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $359,882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,413 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in General Electric by 206.5% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,444,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $278,247,000 after buying an additional 973,135 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in General Electric by 2.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,181,801,000 after buying an additional 898,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of General Electric by 26,959.5% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 554,991 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $92,567,000 after acquiring an additional 552,940 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GE shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Northcoast Research began coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.31.

General Electric Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE GE opened at $207.22 on Monday. General Electric has a 12 month low of $124.08 and a 12 month high of $212.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50-day moving average of $190.24 and a 200-day moving average of $182.20. The company has a market cap of $222.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.22.

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

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.69%. General Electric’s 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.