Principal Financial Group Inc. Raises Stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,323,553 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 48,543 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.12% of General Electric worth $249,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,613,332,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,465,598,000 after acquiring an additional 3,719,894 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in General Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at $580,200,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Electric by 21,069.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,173,142 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $598,391,000 after purchasing an additional 3,158,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in General Electric by 18,693.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,614,022 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $256,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605,434 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Citigroup increased their price objective 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. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, General Electric has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $201.93.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 $2,407,036.57. This trade represents a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the company's 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Electric Trading Up 2.2 %

GE traded up $3.57 during trading on Friday, hitting $168.37. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,240,599 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,152,153. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.59, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. General Electric has a twelve month low of $98.92 and a twelve month high of $194.80. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $178.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

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 company had revenue of $9.84 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. Analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.67%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.68%.

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.