General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Bought by Prentice Wealth Management LLC

Prentice Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,530 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the quarter. Prentice Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in General Electric were worth $422,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in General Electric during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on General Electric in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $211.31.

General Electric Stock Performance

GE opened at $199.90 on Friday. General Electric has a 1-year low of $119.88 and a 1-year high of $212.19. The stock has a market cap of $214.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $186.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 14.31%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 5.4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. This is a boost 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.