Fifth Third Bancorp Acquires 28,985 Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Fifth Third Bancorp grew its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) by 12.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 261,187 shares of the conglomerate's stock after purchasing an additional 28,985 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in General Electric were worth $33,335,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of General Electric by 10.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 305,384 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $27,925,000 after acquiring an additional 27,682 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the first quarter worth approximately $1,518,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of General Electric by 2.9% during the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,748 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,075,000 after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the first quarter worth approximately $388,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the first quarter worth approximately $230,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $148.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Thursday. They set a "hold" rating on the stock. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Monday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Electric has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $150.54.

General Electric Price Performance

GE stock traded down $4.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $175.53. The stock had a trading volume of 9,674,578 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,582,587. The company's 50 day moving average price is $153.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $130.22. General Electric has a 1-year low of $93.47 and a 1-year high of $180.36. The stock has a market cap of $191.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.18.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The firm's revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $1,843,615.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company's stock.

General Electric Company 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.