Donaldson Capital Management LLC Trims Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Donaldson Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,792 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 153 shares during the period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC’s holdings in General Electric were worth $229,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 17.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,639,533,000 after buying an additional 7,157,356 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 122,242.2% in 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 period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in General Electric by 4.0% in 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 period. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in General Electric by 5.1% in 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 period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Electric in the fourth quarter worth $635,274,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Electric Stock Up 2.0 %

GE stock opened at $156.76 on Wednesday. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $76.38 and a fifty-two week high of $158.68. The business’s 50-day moving average is $158.53 and its two-hundred 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 company has a market cap of $171.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.29.

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

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.71%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the company’s 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 owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the company’s 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 owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the company’s 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 approximately $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GE. Bank of America reduced their price target 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. 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 report on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on General Electric in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.07.

General Electric Profile

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.