General Electric (NYSE:GE) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.17 EPS

General Electric (NYSE:GE) announced its earnings results on Tuesday. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17, RTT News reports. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.27 earnings per share. General Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GE opened at $150.19 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $164.20 billion, a PE ratio of 17.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.29. General Electric has a twelve month low of $76.87 and a twelve month high of $158.68. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $159.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $135.03.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $1,843,615.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at $6,552,351.45. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America lowered their target price 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. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TheStreet upgraded shares of General Electric from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.07.

General Electric Company Profile

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.