General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Bought by Patten & Patten Inc. TN

Patten & Patten Inc. TN lifted its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN’s holdings in General Electric were worth $2,123,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 91.8% in the 3rd 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 lifted its stake in General Electric by 505.8% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,908,434 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $359,882,000 after buying an additional 1,593,413 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $194,208,000. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position 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 worth $278,247,000 after acquiring an additional 973,135 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of General Electric by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,181,801,000 after acquiring an additional 898,296 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GE shares. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group raised their price objective on General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.31.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GE opened at $197.39 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $211.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day moving average of $195.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $183.91. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $131.91 and a fifty-two week high of $212.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

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

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 yield of 0.73%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 24.04%.

General Electric Company 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.