AIA Group Ltd Cuts Holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

AIA Group Ltd lessened its stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 77.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,978 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 20,451 shares during the quarter. AIA Group Ltd’s holdings in General Electric were worth $763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Halpern Financial Inc. grew its stake in General Electric by 968.4% in the 4th quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 90.2% in the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 232 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 55.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 43.4% in the 3rd quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 317 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GE. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $160.07.

General Electric Trading Down 3.2 %

NYSE:GE opened at $148.09 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. General Electric has a 52 week low of $76.87 and a 52 week high of $158.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $161.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a fifty day moving average of $159.32 and a 200 day moving average of $134.37.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.76%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 13.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total value of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $1,843,615.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,153,863.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

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.