Smith Moore & CO. Purchases 91 Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Smith Moore & CO. increased its position in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,594 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 91 shares during the quarter. Smith Moore & CO.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $933,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,375,439,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $194,208,000. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of General Electric by 206.5% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,444,466 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $278,247,000 after buying an additional 973,135 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 15,750.4% in the 4th quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 768,588 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $138,368,000 after acquiring an additional 763,739 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of General Electric by 74.8% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,369,932 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $228,491,000 after acquiring an additional 586,045 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GE shares. Redburn Atlantic assumed coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $250.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of General Electric in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.73.

General Electric Stock Down 11.1 %

General Electric stock opened at $166.76 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. General Electric has a 1-year low of $146.78 and a 1-year high of $214.21. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $201.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $187.02. The company has a market cap of $178.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.04.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. Research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 5.4 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 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.