General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 1.9%

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) dropped 1.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $153.63 and last traded at $154.44. Approximately 1,616,943 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 76% from the average daily volume of 6,673,797 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.40.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America decreased their price objective on General Electric from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Electric has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $156.67.

General Electric Stock Down 1.9 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $157.46 and a two-hundred day moving average of $132.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $169.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 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 - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $19.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. General Electric's revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. 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 yield of 0.72%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 13.38%.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 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 accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of General Electric by 122,242.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,438,063 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $878,644,000 after acquiring an additional 13,427,079 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $1,193,159,000. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of General Electric by 17.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $4,639,533,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,356 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $520,488,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. raised its position in shares of General Electric by 265.7% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,008,425 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $332,581,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,793 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.