Wesbanco Bank Inc. Reduces Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Wesbanco Bank Inc. cut its stake in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 18.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 49,966 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 10,969 shares during the quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in General Electric were worth $8,334,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GE. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in General Electric by 2.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,181,801,000 after purchasing an additional 898,296 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in General Electric by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,587,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,244,676,000 after acquiring an additional 156,272 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in General Electric by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,405,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,336,257,000 after acquiring an additional 459,201 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in General Electric by 91.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,465,598,000 after acquiring an additional 3,719,894 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 6,556,515 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,236,428,000 after buying an additional 413,388 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GE shares. Northcoast Research started coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Melius Research lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.47.

General Electric Stock Performance

General Electric stock opened at $188.20 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $174.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $174.49. The company has a market cap of $203.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.85. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $101.16 and a fifty-two week high of $194.80.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total transaction of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value of $1,267,910.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. The trade was a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About General Electric

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.