First Financial Bank Trust Division Decreases Stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

First Financial Bank Trust Division cut its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,326 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 110 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division’s holdings in General Electric were worth $888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GE. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 117.7% in the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in General Electric by 10.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 603,988 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $96,016,000 after buying an additional 57,372 shares during the period. Marietta Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in General Electric during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,569,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in General Electric by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,181,801,000 after acquiring an additional 898,296 shares during the period. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 269.8% in the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,201 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,318,000 after acquiring an additional 20,575 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Bank of America upped 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. Melius Research raised their target price on General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock 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 assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.47.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total value of $2,772,409.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value of $1,267,910.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Trading Up 1.1 %

GE stock traded up $1.80 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $168.59. 3,663,280 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,084,345. General Electric has a 12-month low of $98.92 and a 12-month high of $194.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $182.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.81 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.03. 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) last posted its earnings results 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. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.68%.

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.