Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Grows Stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC grew its position in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 457,321 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,368 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in General Electric were worth $76,277,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $2,375,439,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $194,208,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in General Electric by 206.5% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,444,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $278,247,000 after purchasing an additional 973,135 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its holdings in General Electric by 15,750.4% in the fourth quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 768,588 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $138,368,000 after purchasing an additional 763,739 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 74.8% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,369,932 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $228,491,000 after buying an additional 586,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Stock Down 11.1 %

GE stock opened at $166.76 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $178.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.04. General Electric has a 12 month low of $146.78 and a 12 month high of $214.21. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $201.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $187.02. 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 announced its quarterly 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.86%. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GE. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Northcoast Research began coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.73.

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.