Cannell & Spears LLC Reduces Stock Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Cannell & Spears LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 170,999 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 18,923 shares during the quarter. Cannell & Spears LLC’s holdings in General Electric were worth $28,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in General Electric by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,815,318 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $14,980,297,000 after buying an additional 410,172 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,181,801,000 after acquiring an additional 898,296 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,587,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,244,676,000 after purchasing an additional 156,272 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,375,439,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in General Electric by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,878,650 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,314,080,000 after purchasing an additional 106,891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GE shares. Northcoast Research began coverage on General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Bank of America increased their target price on General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.31.

General Electric Stock Performance

GE opened at $199.66 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $201.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $186.64. The company has a market cap of $214.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. General Electric has a 52-week low of $133.99 and a 52-week high of $214.21.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

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.