Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC Trims Holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,054 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 234 shares during the period. Carnegie Capital Asset Management LLC’s holdings in General Electric were worth $517,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GE. State Street Corp lifted its stake in General Electric by 17.3% during the first 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 lifted its stake in General Electric by 122,242.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,438,063 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $878,644,000 after purchasing an additional 13,427,079 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in General Electric by 4.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,170,551,000 after purchasing an additional 410,061 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in General Electric by 5.1% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $990,032,000 after purchasing an additional 434,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth $635,274,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of GE stock opened at $156.76 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $158.53 and its 200-day moving average is $133.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $171.38 billion, a PE ratio of 18.73, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.29. General Electric has a 52 week low of $76.38 and a 52 week high of $158.68.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $19.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that General Electric will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 13.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America reduced their price objective on General Electric from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 8th. TD Cowen raised General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. TheStreet raised General Electric from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment 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 company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.07.

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 transaction of $1,843,615.55. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total value of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About General Electric

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.