General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 0.7%

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price was up 0.7% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $165.30 and last traded at $163.76. Approximately 1,178,845 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average daily volume of 7,908,081 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.64.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Monday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded General Electric from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $172.29.

General Electric Stock Up 0.9 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $179.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $161.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $137.50.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.72%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total value of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Electric by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,288,136,000 after acquiring an additional 550,996 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,170,551,000 after acquiring an additional 410,061 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $990,032,000 after buying an additional 434,736 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its position in shares of General Electric by 6.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,655,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $849,385,000 after buying an additional 426,794 shares in the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.