Eagle Asset Management Inc. Has $17.90 Million Holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 6.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 96,832 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,639 shares during the quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $17,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GE. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 97.5% during the second quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new stake in General Electric during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new stake in General Electric during the third quarter worth about $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in General Electric during the third quarter worth about $28,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Melius Research increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. StockNews.com cut shares of General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.93.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total transaction of $1,267,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,407,036.57. This trade represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total transaction of $2,772,409.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE GE opened at $181.11 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.85. General Electric has a 1 year low of $94.54 and a 1 year high of $194.80. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.22 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.10. The firm has a market cap of $196.01 billion, a PE ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. General Electric’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

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.