General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 1%

General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell 1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $150.75 and last traded at $151.44. 2,533,094 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 7,901,494 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.94.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on GE. TD Cowen raised shares of General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $175.00 to $180.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 8th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.07.

General Electric Stock Down 3.4 %

The company has a market capitalization of $161.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29. The business’s 50-day moving average is $159.15 and its 200-day moving average is $134.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 13.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were 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 owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $1,843,615.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,552,351.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 122,242.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,438,063 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $878,644,000 after purchasing an additional 13,427,079 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,193,159,000. State Street Corp grew its stake in General Electric by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,639,533,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,356 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in General Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $520,488,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in General Electric by 265.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,008,425 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $332,581,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,793 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.