First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown Sells 268 Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE)

First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown reduced its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,115 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 268 shares during the quarter. First National Bank & Trust Co. of Newtown’s holdings in General Electric were worth $1,291,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GE. Sei Investments Co. grew its stake 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 valued at $27,925,000 after buying an additional 27,682 shares during the last quarter. Prudential PLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the first quarter valued at about $1,518,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $1,075,000 after buying an additional 334 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the first quarter worth about $388,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the first quarter worth about $230,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America cut their target price 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. TD Cowen raised General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Vertical Research assumed coverage on General Electric in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on General Electric in a research note on Saturday, April 13th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.07.

General Electric Stock Down 2.4 %

GE traded down $3.64 on Friday, hitting $149.30. The company had a trading volume of 4,077,368 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,926,326. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $134.10. General Electric has a 52-week low of $76.87 and a 52-week high of $158.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $163.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29. 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 (NYSE:GE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.27 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that General Electric will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.75%. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.38%.

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.