Stamos Capital Partners L.P. Decreases Stock Holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Stamos Capital Partners L.P. decreased its holdings in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 61.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,040 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 6,490 shares during the quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in General Electric by 4.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,170,551,000 after acquiring an additional 410,061 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley increased its position in General Electric by 5.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $990,032,000 after acquiring an additional 434,736 shares during the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 62.3% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,881,752 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $623,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 8.2% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,184,772 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $534,123,000 after purchasing an additional 318,245 shares during 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 research firms have recently commented on GE. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $148.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.82, for a total transaction of $7,377,211.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 112,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,391,821.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

General Electric Stock Performance

GE traded up $1.30 during trading on Friday, reaching $161.92. 3,341,848 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,528,748. General Electric has a 1 year low of $82.11 and a 1 year high of $170.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $160.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $146.90.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. General Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.72%.

General Electric Company 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.