General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 1.6%

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price dropped 1.6% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $185.10 and last traded at $185.60. Approximately 1,024,303 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average daily volume of 6,541,536 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on GE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com lowered General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on General Electric from $201.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price 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. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $191.36.

General Electric Stock Performance

The stock’s 50 day moving average is $172.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $169.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $204.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 60.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 7.66%. General Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. Analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GE. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in General Electric by 10.5% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 603,988 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $96,016,000 after acquiring an additional 57,372 shares during the last quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,569,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake 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. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in General Electric by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,999 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,702,000 after acquiring an additional 3,442 shares during the period. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in General Electric by 4.4% during the second quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 181,971 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $28,928,000 after acquiring an additional 7,670 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.