General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Up 1.6%

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shot up 1.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $162.23 and last traded at $161.66. 1,136,791 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 7,047,618 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.13.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Argus raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.93.

General Electric Trading Up 2.3 %

The company’s 50 day moving average price is $161.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $155.32. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $178.16 billion, a PE ratio of 53.00, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.21.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of General Electric by 29.3% during the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,311 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,613,000 after acquiring an additional 6,419 shares during the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of General Electric by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 261,187 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,335,000 after acquiring an additional 28,985 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas increased its position in shares of General Electric by 24,042.9% during the fourth quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 10,140 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 10,098 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC increased its position in shares of General Electric by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,783 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,432,000 after acquiring an additional 22,998 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC increased its position in shares of General Electric by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 225,814 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $28,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,997 shares during the last quarter. 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.