Valmark Advisers Inc. Buys 1,611 Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Valmark Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 30.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 6,859 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,611 shares during the quarter. Valmark Advisers Inc.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $875,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in General Electric by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,311 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,613,000 after purchasing an additional 6,419 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in General Electric by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 261,187 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,335,000 after purchasing an additional 28,985 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in General Electric by 10.9% during the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 109,332 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $12,087,000 after purchasing an additional 10,722 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC lifted its position in General Electric by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,783 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,432,000 after purchasing an additional 22,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new position in General Electric during the third quarter valued at $1,846,000. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 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 transaction, 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. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on GE. Argus increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Sunday, April 21st. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $170.00.

General Electric Trading Up 0.7 %

GE stock traded up $1.09 during trading on Friday, hitting $162.35. The company had a trading volume of 5,898,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 9,321,559. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.23, a PEG ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29. General Electric has a 52-week low of $77.28 and a 52-week high of $163.65. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $136.27. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.