Machina Capital S.A.S. Acquires Shares of 6,100 General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Machina Capital S.A.S. bought a new stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 6,100 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $779,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in General Electric by 29.3% in the 4th quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,311 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,613,000 after acquiring an additional 6,419 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its holdings in shares of General Electric by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 261,187 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,335,000 after purchasing an additional 28,985 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 10.9% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 109,332 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $12,087,000 after purchasing an additional 10,722 shares in the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its holdings in General Electric by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,783 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,432,000 after purchasing an additional 22,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new position in General Electric in the third quarter valued at $1,846,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on GE shares. Argus boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Monday, April 29th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.29.

General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of GE stock traded up $0.81 on Tuesday, hitting $168.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,760,941 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,870,267. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $78.17 and a fifty-two week high of $170.80. The company has a market capitalization of $184.75 billion, a PE ratio of 55.53, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.25. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $162.20 and its 200-day moving average is $138.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that General Electric will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

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.