General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stake Increased by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank increased its stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) by 47.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 190,227 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 61,316 shares during the period. Czech National Bank's holdings in General Electric were worth $21,030,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. TCI Fund Management Ltd. bought a new stake in General Electric during the first quarter valued at $2,496,379,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 122,242.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,438,063 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $878,644,000 after acquiring an additional 13,427,079 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at $635,274,000. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 17.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,639,533,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,356 shares during the period. Finally, Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 106,570.5% during the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 6,248,759 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $686,426,000 after acquiring an additional 6,242,901 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.83% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GE shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. TheStreet downgraded shares of General Electric from a "b-" rating to a "c" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $131.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, December 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $131.00 to $133.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of General Electric from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $115.00 to $144.00 in a report on Friday, December 15th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $130.43.

General Electric Price Performance

NYSE GE traded up $0.46 on Wednesday, reaching $127.93. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,598,086 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,724,147. General Electric has a twelve month low of $63.15 and a twelve month high of $128.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.17. The stock has a market cap of $139.24 billion, a PE ratio of 14.37, a PEG ratio of 3.58 and a beta of 1.28. The firm's 50 day moving average is $117.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $113.24.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 24th. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by $0.26. General Electric had a net margin of 14.38% and a return on equity of 11.10%. The company had revenue of $17.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.35 EPS. General Electric's revenue was up 19.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Electric will post 2.65 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, January 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.08 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 27th. This represents a $0.32 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.25%. General Electric's payout ratio is presently 3.61%.

General Electric Company Profile

General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It offers gas and steam turbines, full balance of plant, upgrade, and service solutions, as well as data-leveraging software for power generation, industrial, government, and other customers.

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