General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 0.5%

General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell 0.5% on Friday . The company traded as low as $159.43 and last traded at $161.05. 1,307,606 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 7,103,093 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.92.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GE. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on General Electric from $165.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on General Electric from $195.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. TD Cowen raised General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price target on General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on General Electric from $201.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $181.93.

General Electric Price Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $162.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $153.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $175.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.80, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. General Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 11th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.70%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.82, for a total value of $7,377,211.38. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 112,958 shares in the company, valued at $18,391,821.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GE. Capital World Investors raised its stake in General Electric by 2,818.1% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,749,560 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,237,930,000 after buying an additional 12,312,648 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Electric in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,193,159,000. Capital International Investors raised its stake in General Electric by 9.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 59,100,643 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,373,936,000 after buying an additional 5,309,543 shares in the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in General Electric by 221.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,121,741 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,250,079,000 after buying an additional 4,907,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in General Electric in the fourth quarter worth approximately $520,488,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.