General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 2.7%

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares were up 2.7% on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $163.81 and last traded at $162.65. Approximately 1,468,429 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average daily volume of 7,088,040 shares. The stock had previously closed at $158.36.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America increased their price objective on General Electric from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Argus increased their price objective on General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on General Electric from $148.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.71.

General Electric Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $162.49 and a 200 day moving average of $158.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $181.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 54.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.21.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. General Electric had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 7.66%. The firm had revenue of $9.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.44 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.15 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $7,377,211.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 112,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,391,821.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. USA Financial Formulas raised its position in General Electric by 24,042.9% in the 4th quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 10,140 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after buying an additional 10,098 shares during the last quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC raised its position in General Electric by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,783 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,432,000 after buying an additional 22,998 shares during the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC raised its position in General Electric by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 225,814 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $28,821,000 after buying an additional 5,997 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in General Electric by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 4,184,772 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $534,123,000 after buying an additional 318,245 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in General Electric by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,288,136,000 after buying an additional 550,996 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, 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.