Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $205.51 Million Stock Position in General Electric (NYSE:GE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. cut its holdings in shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,232,146 shares of the conglomerate’s stock after selling 91,407 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.11% of General Electric worth $205,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GE. State Street Corp lifted its stake in General Electric by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,181,801,000 after purchasing an additional 898,296 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,587,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,244,676,000 after buying an additional 156,272 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in General Electric by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,878,650 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,314,080,000 after buying an additional 106,891 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in General Electric by 6.7% in the third 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 acquiring an additional 413,388 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in General Electric by 12.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,106,786 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $774,458,000 after acquiring an additional 457,038 shares in the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup lifted their price target on General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Melius Research increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.73.

General Electric Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE:GE opened at $208.62 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.40. General Electric has a 52-week low of $117.43 and a 52-week high of $211.42. The company has a market cap of $223.91 billion, a PE ratio of 34.83, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.22. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 22.19%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Electric will post 5.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 18.70%.

General Electric Company 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.