Howard Financial Services LTD. Makes New $259,000 Investment in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Howard Financial Services LTD. acquired a new stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,550 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 117.7% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 270 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in General Electric by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 603,988 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $96,016,000 after purchasing an additional 57,372 shares in the last quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in General Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $733,000. Marietta Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,569,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 valued at $8,181,801,000 after buying an additional 898,296 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total transaction of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at $26,539,714.53. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Melius Research raised their price objective on General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.47.

General Electric Price Performance

NYSE:GE traded up $3.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $182.83. 5,887,078 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,238,171. 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 $101.16 and a 1-year high of $194.80. The firm's 50-day moving average is $174.33 and its 200-day moving average is $174.00. The stock has a market cap of $197.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. General Electric's revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.61%. 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.