General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stock Price Up 0.3%

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price was up 0.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $158.69 and last traded at $155.14. Approximately 1,818,064 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average daily volume of 7,987,288 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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. lowered their price objective on General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America cut their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $160.07.

General Electric Price Performance

The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $158.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $133.81. The company has a market capitalization of $171.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is a boost from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 13.38%.

Insider Activity

In related news, 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 value of $1,843,615.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, 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 value of $1,843,615.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,552,351.45. 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 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 transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GE. Halpern Financial Inc. boosted its stake in General Electric by 968.4% during the fourth quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. Aspect Partners LLC purchased a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Dagco Inc. purchased a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

About General Electric

General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It offers gas and steam turbines, full balance of plant, upgrade, and service solutions, as well as data-leveraging software for power generation, industrial, government, and other customers.