Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Buys 1,256 Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 74.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,934 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after buying an additional 1,256 shares during the quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GE. Halpern Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 968.4% in the fourth quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. CGC Financial Services LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 90.2% in the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 232 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC increased its position in shares of General Electric by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GE shares. Vertical Research assumed coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $191.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup raised their target price on General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on General Electric from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.27.

General Electric Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of GE stock opened at $160.51 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $175.70 billion, a PE ratio of 52.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.23. General Electric has a 52-week low of $83.98 and a 52-week high of $170.80. The business’s fifty day moving average is $161.99 and its 200 day moving average is $150.84. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The company’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,391,821.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

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.