Williams Financial LLC Purchases Shares of 17,172 General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Williams Financial LLC purchased a new stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 17,172 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $2,751,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lyell Wealth Management LP grew its stake in General Electric by 7.0% during the 2nd quarter. Lyell Wealth Management LP now owns 1,525 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $242,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 15.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 967,639 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $153,826,000 after acquiring an additional 131,033 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the second quarter valued at about $556,000. Wrapmanager Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $1,188,000. Finally, Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its stake in General Electric by 19.6% in the 2nd quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 18,563 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,951,000 after purchasing an additional 3,042 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein initiated coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, September 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $201.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.14.

General Electric Stock Performance

GE opened at $178.28 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $166.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.27. General Electric has a 1 year low of $84.42 and a 1 year high of $179.32. The stock has a market cap of $195.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. General Electric had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.72%.

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.