General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 0.1% Higher After Dividend Announcement

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) rose 0.1% during trading on Monday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $209.16 and last traded at $208.62. Approximately 4,267,083 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 29% from the average daily volume of 6,009,583 shares. The stock had previously closed at $208.36.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.36 per share. This is a positive change from General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 24.04%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a "neutral" rating for the company. Bank of America raised their price target on General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $211.31.

General Electric Price Performance

The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $185.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $180.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 1.09 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of $214.55 billion, a PE ratio of 33.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 1.22.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 14.31%. As a group, research analysts predict that General Electric will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 89,815,318 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $14,980,297,000 after acquiring an additional 410,172 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 66,823,968 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $11,145,570,000 after acquiring an additional 965,012 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $8,181,801,000 after acquiring an additional 898,296 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 23,117,418 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $3,846,587,000 after acquiring an additional 529,457 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $2,375,439,000. 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.