Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC Buys 612 Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 16.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,267 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in General Electric were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GE. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in General Electric during the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the third quarter valued at about $28,000. RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Costello Asset Management INC grew its position in shares of General Electric by 92.0% during the third quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 167 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Electric Trading Down 1.0 %

GE opened at $194.08 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $208.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $193.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $183.20. General Electric has a one year low of $130.38 and a one year high of $212.19. 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, beating 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%. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Electric will post 5.4 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.36 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.74%. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 24.04%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GE. Bank of America raised their price objective on General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of General Electric in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Redburn Atlantic began coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $250.00 price target for the company. Finally, Northcoast Research began coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, General Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.