General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 1%

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report)'s share price traded down 1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $150.75 and last traded at $151.44. 2,533,094 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average session volume of 7,901,494 shares. The stock had previously closed at $152.94.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. TheStreet upgraded shares of General Electric from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $160.07.

General Electric Stock Down 3.2 %

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 stock has a market capitalization of $161.90 billion, a PE ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $159.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $134.37.

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

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.76%. This is an increase from General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. General Electric's payout ratio is currently 13.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business's 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business'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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business's 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 completion of the transaction, 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. Insiders own 0.66% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

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

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.