General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stock Price Down 1.9%

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GE has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price objective on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. TD Cowen raised shares of General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.07.

General Electric Stock Performance

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $157.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $133.04. The firm has a market cap of $169.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The business 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%. General Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 3.82%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 shares were 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 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 can be accessed through this link. 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 shares were 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 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were 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 owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 14.0% in the 1st quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 18,944 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,323 shares in the last quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 41.4% in the 1st quarter. Mechanics Bank Trust Department now owns 3,083 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. Gilman Hill Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 1st quarter valued at $203,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the first quarter valued at about $168,000. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Electric by 1.5% in the first quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 65,877 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,563,000 after buying an additional 973 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.