OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Sells 93 Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE)

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lessened its stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 450 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 93 shares during the quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in General Electric were worth $57,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Halpern Financial Inc. grew its stake in General Electric by 968.4% in the 4th quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 90.2% in the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 232 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 55.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 808.1% in the 1st quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 336 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Freedom LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of General Electric stock opened at $152.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a 50-day moving average of $159.15 and a 200 day moving average of $134.10. The firm has a market cap of $167.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.27, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29. General Electric has a 1 year low of $76.87 and a 1 year high of $158.68.

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

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.38%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GE. Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Saturday, April 13th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $160.07.

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 dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction 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 approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $1,843,615.55. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About General Electric

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.