General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 0.4%

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price fell 0.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $165.31 and last traded at $166.66. 1,013,520 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 7,531,698 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on GE. Vertical Research began coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. 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 reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $176.00.

General Electric Stock Up 0.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $183.38 billion, a PE ratio of 54.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $162.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $144.42.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 3.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.72%.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.82, for a total transaction of $7,377,211.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,958 shares in the company, valued at $18,391,821.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of General Electric by 2,818.1% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,749,560 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,237,930,000 after acquiring an additional 12,312,648 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $1,193,159,000. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of General Electric by 9.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 59,100,643 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,373,936,000 after acquiring an additional 5,309,543 shares during the period. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its position in shares of General Electric by 221.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,121,741 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,250,079,000 after acquiring an additional 4,907,530 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $520,488,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.