General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Down 0.6% After Analyst Downgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price was down 0.6% on Thursday after Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on the stock from $195.00 to $180.00. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. General Electric traded as low as $154.75 and last traded at $155.74. Approximately 1,236,779 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 81% from the average daily volume of 6,678,859 shares. The stock had previously closed at $156.61.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on GE. Bank of America dropped their target price on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased 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. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, General Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $156.67.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Rheos Capital Works Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 119.9% during the first quarter. Rheos Capital Works Inc. now owns 183,400 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $32,192,000 after buying an additional 100,000 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 15.6% in the first quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 16,249 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,852,000 after purchasing an additional 2,189 shares during the period. Compton Wealth Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric in the first quarter valued at about $3,426,000. Cooper Financial Group purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric in the first quarter valued at about $235,000. Finally, O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric in the first quarter valued at about $216,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $157.46 and its 200-day moving average is $132.58. The stock has a market cap of $172.39 billion, a PE ratio of 18.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.29.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The firm had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. General Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.61 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.71%. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.82%.

General Electric Company Profile

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.