Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 6,225 Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 615,685 shares of the conglomerate's stock after selling 6,225 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned about 0.06% of General Electric worth $78,580,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GE. Halpern Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 968.4% in the 4th quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. CGC Financial Services LLC increased its position in General Electric by 90.2% in the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 232 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC increased its position in General Electric by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 243 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on GE. Bank of America increased their target price on General Electric from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their target price on General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TheStreet raised General Electric from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. TD Cowen raised General Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Argus raised their price target on General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $170.00.

General Electric Price Performance

GE stock traded up $1.09 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $162.35. 5,898,021 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 9,321,559. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $160.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $136.43. General Electric has a one year low of $77.28 and a one year high of $163.65. The company has a market cap of $177.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.27 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that General Electric will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were given a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change from General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.72%.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the 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 directly owns 48,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the 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 directly owns 56,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,153,863.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.