General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 2%

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) shot up 2% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $157.02 and last traded at $156.76. 6,187,178 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 27% from the average session volume of 8,443,114 shares. The stock had previously closed at $153.70.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GE. TheStreet raised General Electric from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They set a "buy" rating and a $190.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Vertical Research assumed coverage on General Electric in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a "buy" rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Electric currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $160.07.

General Electric Trading Down 0.7 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $170.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $158.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $133.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.18.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The company had revenue of $19.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This is a positive change from General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. General Electric's payout ratio is currently 13.38%.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now 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. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 17.9% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 4,574 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $803,000 after purchasing an additional 695 shares during the last quarter. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 19.4% in the first quarter. Merrion Investment Management Co LLC now owns 4,300 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $755,000 after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 12.7% in the first quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 63,877 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $11,212,000 after purchasing an additional 7,200 shares during the last quarter. CRA Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the first quarter worth $284,000. Finally, Home Federal Bank of Tennessee purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the first quarter worth $242,000. 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.