Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Lowers Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lessened its stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 1.6% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,534 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 105 shares during the quarter. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $1,147,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Walker Asset Management LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 1.7% in the first quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $722,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 2.6% in the first quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,821 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $495,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in General Electric by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 4,316 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $814,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Forte Capital LLC ADV raised its stake in General Electric by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 4,067 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Vertical Research initiated 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. TD Cowen raised shares of General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on General Electric from $165.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.93.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,958 shares in the company, valued at $18,391,821.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

General Electric Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:GE opened at $161.47 on Wednesday. General Electric has a 12 month low of $84.42 and a 12 month high of $170.80. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $151.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a market capitalization of $176.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.94, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.22.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

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.