J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. Increases Stock Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. increased its stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) by 30.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,211 shares of the conglomerate's stock after buying an additional 3,320 shares during the quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc.'s holdings in General Electric were worth $2,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Valmark Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc. now owns 9,454 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,577,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Game Plan Financial Advisors LLC now owns 578 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $96,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. WD Rutherford LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 7.0% in the 4th quarter. WD Rutherford LLC now owns 19,639 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,276,000 after buying an additional 1,278 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $228,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in General Electric by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 25,182 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,200,000 after purchasing an additional 3,273 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GE shares. Redburn Atlantic started coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $250.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $200.00 target price on shares of General Electric in a research note on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $211.31.

General Electric Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of General Electric stock traded down $1.57 on Thursday, hitting $208.93. The stock had a trading volume of 2,967,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,420,081. The stock has a market cap of $224.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.88, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.22. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $185.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $180.23. General Electric has a one year low of $118.13 and a one year high of $212.19. 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 (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts predict that General Electric will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.69%. This is a boost from General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. General Electric's payout ratio is 18.70%.

General Electric Company 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.