General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stock Price Up 5.3% Following Dividend Announcement

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price traded up 5.3% during mid-day trading on Friday following a dividend announcement from the company. The company traded as high as $155.92 and last traded at $155.17. 4,967,152 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 24% from the average session volume of 6,503,084 shares. The stock had previously closed at $147.39.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 3.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GE shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. StockNews.com started coverage on General Electric in a research report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Citigroup upped their price target on General Electric from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, December 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $148.79.

General Electric Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The firm has a market cap of $170.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $155.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $131.50.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The firm had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.27 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total value of $3,195,107.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $1,843,615.55. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total value of $3,195,107.85. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its position in shares of General Electric by 12.5% during the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 261,187 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $33,335,000 after acquiring an additional 28,985 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 10.9% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 109,332 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $12,087,000 after acquiring an additional 10,722 shares during the period. Hoey Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 51,152.3% during the third quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 22,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,493,000 after buying an additional 22,507 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP bought a new stake in General Electric during the third quarter worth about $1,846,000. Finally, Cambridge Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in General Electric during the third quarter valued at approximately $6,285,000. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

About General Electric

General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It offers gas and steam turbines, full balance of plant, upgrade, and service solutions, as well as data-leveraging software for power generation, industrial, government, and other customers.