Payden & Rygel Buys 65,600 Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Payden & Rygel raised its stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 102.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 129,800 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,600 shares during the quarter. General Electric comprises 1.9% of Payden & Rygel’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in General Electric were worth $21,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Paloma Partners Management Co acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the third quarter worth $270,000. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in General Electric by 564.7% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 226 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 192 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 10.0% during the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 664,660 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $125,345,000 after purchasing an additional 60,643 shares during the period. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 49.3% during the third quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 228,907 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $43,167,000 after purchasing an additional 75,580 shares during the period. Finally, Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric in the third quarter valued at approximately $6,733,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on GE shares. Citigroup raised 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of General Electric in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.73.

General Electric Price Performance

General Electric stock opened at $166.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $201.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $187.02. General Electric has a 12 month low of $146.78 and a 12 month high of $214.21. The company has a market capitalization of $178.98 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 22.19%. Analysts expect that General Electric will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 24.04%.

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.