St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC Invests $1.76 Million in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 13,753 shares of the conglomerate's stock, valued at approximately $1,755,000. General Electric makes up about 1.6% of St. Louis Financial Planners Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 122,242.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,438,063 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $878,644,000 after acquiring an additional 13,427,079 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 4th quarter worth approximately $635,274,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,639,533,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,356 shares during the period. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 70,480,887 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $7,742,325,000 after acquiring an additional 2,974,946 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 265.7% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,008,425 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $332,581,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,793 shares during the period. 74.83% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GE shares. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on General Electric from $148.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised General Electric from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $166.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Friday, March 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on General Electric from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, December 11th. TheStreet raised General Electric from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on General Electric from $153.00 to $181.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $143.36.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GE traded down $3.35 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $166.81. 7,543,618 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,908,096. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.85. General Electric has a twelve month low of $86.45 and a twelve month high of $175.81. The company has a market cap of $181.54 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.28. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $143.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $125.49.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, January 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 28th were issued a $0.08 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, December 27th. This represents a $0.32 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.19%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 48,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.67% of the company's stock.

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.