General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Down 3.2%

General Electric (NYSE:GE) was down 3.2% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $155.56 and last traded at $157.46. Approximately 3,940,034 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 51% from the average daily volume of 8,081,722 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.62.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GE. StockNews.com assumed coverage on General Electric in a research note on Sunday. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. Bank of America lifted their price target on General Electric from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Vertical Research assumed coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Electric currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $167.29.

General Electric Trading Down 2.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $174.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $159.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $135.39.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This is a positive change 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 13.38%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was 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 directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was 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 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. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in General Electric by 4.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,170,551,000 after acquiring an additional 410,061 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in General Electric by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $990,032,000 after purchasing an additional 434,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in General Electric by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,655,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $849,385,000 after acquiring an additional 426,794 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.