Kentucky Retirement Systems Cuts Stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Kentucky Retirement Systems cut its stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 0.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,486 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 165 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in General Electric were worth $13,113,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rathbones Group PLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 225,814 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $28,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,997 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of General Electric by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,288,136,000 after buying an additional 550,996 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 288,224 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $36,786,000 after buying an additional 8,788 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,999 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,702,000 after acquiring an additional 3,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Makena Capital Management LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 26.2% during the 4th quarter. Makena Capital Management LLC now owns 149,855 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $19,126,000 after acquiring an additional 31,107 shares in the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GE. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $201.00 target price for the company. Barclays lifted their price target on General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.14.

General Electric Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE GE opened at $183.54 on Thursday. General Electric has a one year low of $84.42 and a one year high of $185.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $167.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $170.96. The firm has a market cap of $200.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.18, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.14.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. General Electric had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 7.66%. The firm had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.44 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. General Electric’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.72%.

About General Electric

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.