General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Up 0.3%

General Electric (NYSE:GE) was up 0.3% during trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $155.38 and last traded at $154.10. Approximately 1,302,904 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 7,959,662 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.70.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on GE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They set a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. TheStreet upgraded shares of General Electric from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.07.

General Electric Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $170.19 billion, a PE ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $158.87 and its 200 day moving average is $133.96. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.38%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,288,136,000 after purchasing an additional 550,996 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in General Electric by 17.3% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,639,533,000 after buying an additional 7,157,356 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in General Electric by 122,242.2% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,438,063 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $878,644,000 after buying an additional 13,427,079 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in General Electric by 4.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,170,551,000 after buying an additional 410,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,193,159,000. 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.