General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Down 0.1% Following Analyst Downgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares dropped 0.1% during trading on Thursday after Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on the stock from $210.00 to $200.00. Royal Bank of Canada currently has an outperform rating on the stock. General Electric traded as low as $180.27 and last traded at $181.52. Approximately 920,763 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 6,361,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.69.

GE has been the topic of several other reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Melius Research upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.93.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 133,618 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,054,000 after purchasing an additional 2,055 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 21,347 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,747,000 after purchasing an additional 2,682 shares in the last quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 74.9% in the 1st quarter. Sovereign Financial Group Inc. now owns 2,934 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $515,000 after purchasing an additional 1,256 shares in the last quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 6.6% in the 1st quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC now owns 9,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,646,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Investment Partners LTD. acquired a new stake in General Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $257,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Electric Trading Down 0.1 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $179.51 and its 200 day moving average is $168.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.18.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. General Electric had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

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.