Liberty Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,361 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $239,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GE. Walker Asset Management LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $722,000 after purchasing an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,821 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $495,000 after acquiring an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 4,316 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $550,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $814,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schnieders Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC now owns 6,817 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GE. TD Cowen raised General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on General Electric from $148.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on General Electric from $165.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.93.

General Electric Stock Performance

NYSE GE traded down $0.40 on Tuesday, hitting $163.13. 3,667,434 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,195,223. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $162.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $153.44. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $84.42 and a fifty-two week high of $170.80. The firm has a market cap of $178.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.21.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.25 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 36.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.82, for a total value of $7,377,211.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 112,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,391,821.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.