Banco Santander S.A. Increases Holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Banco Santander S.A. lifted its position in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GE. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 91.8% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,465,598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,719,894 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 505.8% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,908,434 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $359,882,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,413 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $194,208,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 206.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,444,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $278,247,000 after purchasing an additional 973,135 shares during the period. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 2.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,181,801,000 after purchasing an additional 898,296 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GE. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of General Electric in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.31.

General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of GE stock opened at $194.08 on Monday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $193.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $183.20. The company has a market cap of $208.31 billion, a PE ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.19. 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.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 14.31%. Analysts expect that General Electric will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. General Electric’s payout ratio is 24.04%.

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.