General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 1.1% Higher After Dividend Announcement

Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) were up 1.1% during trading on Monday after the company announced a dividend. The stock traded as high as $169.20 and last traded at $167.80. Approximately 1,238,473 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 6,110,157 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.01.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 19.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GE shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Melius Research upped their target price on General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.93.

General Electric Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $179.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.14, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $179.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.52.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Electric

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total transaction of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value of $1,267,910.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new position in General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth $2,613,332,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 91.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,465,598,000 after acquiring an additional 3,719,894 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth $580,200,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 21,069.8% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,173,142 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $598,391,000 after acquiring an additional 3,158,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in General Electric by 18,693.9% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,614,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $256,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,605,434 shares during the last quarter. 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.