General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Sold by Lakeside Advisors INC.

Lakeside Advisors INC. lessened its holdings in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 19.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,604 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 2,842 shares during the quarter. General Electric accounts for approximately 1.0% of Lakeside Advisors INC.’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Lakeside Advisors INC.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $1,481,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Atlas Brown Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 8,322 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,062,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 9.7% in the fourth quarter. Creative Financial Designs Inc. ADV now owns 1,027 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $131,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 1,994 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $254,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the last quarter. Finally, King Wealth raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 3.2% in the third quarter. King Wealth now owns 2,988 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $330,000 after purchasing an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. StockNews.com started coverage on General Electric in a research report on Saturday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. TheStreet upgraded General Electric from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $160.07.

Insider Activity 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 transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now 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 the SEC website. 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 transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now 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 the SEC website. 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares in the company, 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 Trading Up 2.0 %

NYSE:GE traded up $3.06 on Wednesday, reaching $156.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,187,178 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,443,114. General Electric has a 12-month low of $76.38 and a 12-month high of $158.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $171.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $158.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $133.81.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $19.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

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

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.