First Bancorp Inc ME Has $985,000 Stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

First Bancorp Inc ME lifted its position in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,611 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the quarter. First Bancorp Inc ME’s holdings in General Electric were worth $985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in General Electric by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,288,136,000 after acquiring an additional 550,996 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter worth $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 5.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $990,032,000 after purchasing an additional 434,736 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,655,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $849,385,000 after purchasing an additional 426,794 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 62.3% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 4,881,752 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $623,058,000 after purchasing an additional 1,873,327 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GE. Citigroup increased their target price on General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Vertical Research assumed coverage on General Electric in a report on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Argus raised their price target on General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on General Electric from $148.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Two research 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $177.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the business’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 transaction of $7,377,211.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,391,821.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

General Electric Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:GE traded up $0.91 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $160.64. 3,859,053 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,357,324. The stock has a market cap of $175.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $83.48 and a fifty-two week high of $170.80. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $161.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $150.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

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.