Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Grows Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its position in General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) by 159.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,292 shares of the conglomerate's stock after acquiring an additional 6,935 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in General Electric were worth $1,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GE. Tsfg LLC lifted its holdings in General Electric by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 485 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $92,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of General Electric by 2.6% in the third quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 2,267 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $428,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 6,299 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,188,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 5,153 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $972,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,115 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $399,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GE shares. Northcoast Research began coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a "neutral" rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced 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 report on Thursday, January 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Electric presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.47.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of GE stock traded up $3.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $182.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,887,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,238,171. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $101.16 and a fifty-two week high of $194.80. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $174.33 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a market capitalization of $197.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. General Electric's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.61%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.68%.

Insider Activity

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value of $1,267,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.