CoreFirst Bank & Trust Invests $372,000 in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust bought a new stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 2,230 shares of the conglomerate’s stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Haverford Trust Co grew its holdings in General Electric by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Haverford Trust Co now owns 13,343 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,225,000 after purchasing an additional 631 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 74.8% in the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,369,932 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $228,491,000 after purchasing an additional 586,045 shares during the last quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of General Electric by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. Interchange Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,969 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 179 shares during the period. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE boosted its holdings in General Electric by 7.2% in the fourth quarter. Congress Wealth Management LLC DE now owns 8,826 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,472,000 after acquiring an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $96,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of GE stock opened at $210.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.15, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.19. General Electric has a one year low of $133.99 and a one year high of $212.19. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $199.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $185.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.09.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 14.31%. Equities analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Northcoast Research started coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of General Electric in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Redburn Atlantic initiated coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. They set a “buy” rating and a $250.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $211.31.

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.