Ballast Advisors LLC Grows Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Ballast Advisors LLC boosted its position in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,994 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Electric were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of General Electric by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,639,533,000 after purchasing an additional 7,157,356 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 122,242.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,438,063 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $878,644,000 after buying an additional 13,427,079 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,170,551,000 after buying an additional 410,061 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $990,032,000 after buying an additional 434,736 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 4th quarter worth about $635,274,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GE. Vertical Research began coverage on General Electric in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. TheStreet raised General Electric from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com initiated coverage on General Electric in a research report on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $160.07.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of General Electric stock traded up $0.81 during trading on Monday, reaching $155.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,222,169 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,993,591. 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 12-month low of $76.38 and a 12-month high of $158.69. The company has a market capitalization of $169.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.29. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $157.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $133.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $19.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. General Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.38%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $1,843,615.55. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $1,843,615.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at $6,552,351.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, 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 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 operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It offers gas and steam turbines, full balance of plant, upgrade, and service solutions, as well as data-leveraging software for power generation, industrial, government, and other customers.