Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Acquires New Stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 1,678 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $520,488,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 11,947.8% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,576,570 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $201,218,000 after buying an additional 1,563,484 shares during the period. Carmignac Gestion acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $133,581,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 358.4% in the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,456,673 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $161,035,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 30.5% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,990,039 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $330,548,000 after purchasing an additional 699,585 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on GE. Vertical Research began coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com began 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 lifted 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.29.

General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GE traded up $0.08 on Wednesday, hitting $168.86. 4,787,210 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,836,166. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.67, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $162.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.17. General Electric has a one year low of $78.17 and a one year high of $170.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that General Electric will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.72%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.