Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. Has $1.76 Million Stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc. decreased its position in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 65.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,756 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 25,749 shares during the period. Peregrine Asset Advisers Inc.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $1,756,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of General Electric by 4.0% during the third 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 last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of General Electric by 5.1% during the third 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 last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $520,488,000. Meritage Group LP raised its position in shares of General Electric by 3.5% during the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 3,294,044 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $364,157,000 after buying an additional 110,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its stake in General Electric by 1.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,074,080 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $339,848,000 after acquiring an additional 32,643 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GE shares. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Monday, April 29th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Vertical Research started coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. TD Cowen raised shares of General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.29.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of GE stock traded up $3.83 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $167.94. 4,830,418 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,903,994. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $78.17 and a fifty-two week high of $167.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $162.20 and its two-hundred day moving average is $138.73. The company has a market cap of $183.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.25.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Electric will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.72%.

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.