Balentine LLC Acquires New Stake in The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA)

Balentine LLC bought a new position in The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,337 shares of the aircraft producer's stock, valued at approximately $228,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Boeing by 24.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 64,442,717 shares of the aircraft producer's stock valued at $11,406,361,000 after acquiring an additional 12,641,715 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Boeing by 29.5% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,171,869 shares of the aircraft producer's stock valued at $2,677,170,000 after acquiring an additional 3,452,075 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Boeing by 33.6% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,504,610 shares of the aircraft producer's stock valued at $1,151,316,000 after acquiring an additional 1,634,231 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Boeing during the 4th quarter valued at about $568,000. Finally, Alyeska Investment Group L.P. bought a new position in Boeing during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $526,889,000. 64.82% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Boeing news, SVP Brendan J. Nelson sold 640 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $206.28, for a total transaction of $132,019.20. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 13,258 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,734,860.24. This represents a 4.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP David Christopher Raymond sold 3,899 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $187.01, for a total transaction of $729,151.99. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 42,513 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,950,356.13. This represents a 8.40% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 7,744 shares of company stock worth $1,511,370 over the last three months. 0.09% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on BA shares. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Boeing from $200.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Boeing from $200.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup raised their target price on Boeing from $220.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $212.00 target price on Boeing and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, June 12th. Finally, TD Securities cut Boeing to a "cautious" rating in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $221.55.

Boeing Stock Performance

BA stock traded down $1.51 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $229.49. 5,968,167 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 9,597,328. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $210.26 and its 200-day moving average price is $184.78. The Boeing Company has a fifty-two week low of $128.88 and a fifty-two week high of $233.61. The stock has a market cap of $173.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -12.81 and a beta of 1.41.

Boeing (NYSE:BA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aircraft producer reported ($0.49) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.39) by $0.90. The firm had revenue of $19.50 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.57 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($1.13) earnings per share. Boeing's revenue was up 17.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that The Boeing Company will post -2.58 EPS for the current year.

About Boeing

The Boeing Company, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, sells, services, and supports commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight and launch systems, and services worldwide. The company operates through Commercial Airplanes; Defense, Space & Security; and Global Services segments.