Banco Santander S.A. Raises Stock Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Banco Santander S.A. boosted its holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,088 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 296 shares during the period. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GE. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in General Electric by 91.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,465,598,000 after buying an additional 3,719,894 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in General Electric by 505.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,908,434 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $359,882,000 after buying an additional 1,593,413 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in General Electric in the 4th quarter worth $194,208,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in General Electric by 206.5% in the 3rd 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. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake in General Electric by 2.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. 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 research report on Friday, January 24th. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.31.

General Electric Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:GE opened at $194.08 on Monday. 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 $130.38 and a 12 month high of $212.19. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $193.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.20. The company has a market cap of $208.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) 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 research analysts predict that General Electric will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.74%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. 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.