Principal Financial Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 3.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,323,553 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,543 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.12% of General Electric worth $249,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GE. Studio Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in General Electric by 97.5% in the second quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in General Electric during the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Melius Research increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of GE opened at $164.80 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $178.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $172.38. The stock has a market cap of $178.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. General Electric has a one year low of $98.58 and a one year high of $194.80.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. General Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 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.