General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 0.5%

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) shares dropped 0.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $162.76 and last traded at $162.95. Approximately 749,054 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 6,681,213 shares. The stock had previously closed at $163.85.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $148.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $190.38.

General Electric Stock Down 1.6 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $176.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.18. The business's 50 day moving average is $165.74 and its 200-day moving average is $163.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.14.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.21. The firm had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio is 36.72%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in General Electric by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $11,288,136,000 after purchasing an additional 550,996 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of General Electric by 9.9% during 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 last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new stake in General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,613,332,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 2,818.1% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,749,560 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $2,237,930,000 after acquiring an additional 12,312,648 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,193,159,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.