North Star Asset Management Inc. Lowers Holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

North Star Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 2.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 247 shares during the period. North Star Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $1,602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in General Electric in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in General Electric during the second quarter worth approximately $32,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in General Electric in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of General Electric by 37.9% in the second quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 211 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GE. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on General Electric from $148.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $190.38.

General Electric Stock Performance

General Electric stock opened at $161.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $176.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $165.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $163.28. General Electric has a 1-year low of $84.42 and a 1-year high of $177.20.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.21. General Electric had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 7.66%. The company had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

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