General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stock Price Down 0.1%

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) dropped 0.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $159.84 and last traded at $160.37. Approximately 860,181 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 7,284,463 shares. The stock had previously closed at $160.50.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GE. Barclays decreased their price objective on General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of General Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup increased their target price on General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on General Electric from $148.00 to $175.00 and gave the company 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 given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, General Electric currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $177.60.

General Electric Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $174.05 billion, a PE ratio of 52.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.23. The business's 50 day moving average is $162.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $151.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.70%. General Electric's payout ratio is 36.72%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,391,821.56. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

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

About General Electric

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.