General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Sold by B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 17,883 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,420 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $2,284,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,288,136,000 after purchasing an additional 550,996 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings 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 worth $1,170,551,000 after purchasing an additional 410,061 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter worth $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings 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 worth $990,032,000 after purchasing an additional 434,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,655,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $849,385,000 after purchasing an additional 426,794 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.82, for a total transaction of $7,377,211.38. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,958 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $18,391,821.56. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GE shares. UBS Group raised their price objective on General Electric from $191.00 to $201.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on General Electric from $165.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on General Electric from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on General Electric from $148.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $177.27.

General Electric Trading Up 1.1 %

NYSE:GE opened at $164.97 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $161.18 and its two-hundred day moving average is $149.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.82. General Electric has a 12 month low of $82.11 and a 12 month high of $170.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $180.58 billion, a PE ratio of 54.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.23.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.99 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

General Electric 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.