National Bank of Canada FI Trims Stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

National Bank of Canada FI cut its holdings in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 53.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 271,050 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 311,920 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in General Electric were worth $44,282,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Halpern Financial Inc. lifted its stake in General Electric by 968.4% during the fourth quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Capital Analysts LLC lifted its stake in General Electric by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Bfsg LLC purchased a new position in General Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.82, for a total transaction of $7,377,211.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $18,391,821.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on GE. Vertical Research began coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Electric currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.93.

General Electric Stock Down 5.6 %

NYSE:GE traded down $9.70 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $162.30. 7,323,617 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,153,121. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $84.42 and a fifty-two week high of $177.20. The company has a market capitalization of $177.66 billion, a PE ratio of 53.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $162.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $155.95.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $9.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.44 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 11th. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.72%.

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.