General Electric (NYSE:GE) Increases Dividend to $0.36 Per Share

General Electric (NYSE:GE) announced a quarterly dividend on Friday, February 14th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of 0.36 per share by the conglomerate on Friday, April 25th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28.

General Electric has increased its dividend payment by an average of 51.8% annually over the last three years. General Electric has a dividend payout ratio of 17.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect General Electric to earn $6.44 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.12 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 17.4%.

General Electric Stock Up 0.1 %

GE stock opened at $208.62 on Friday. General Electric has a 52 week low of $117.43 and a 52 week high of $211.42. The company has a market cap of $223.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 34.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $182.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.98.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 22.19%. On average, research analysts expect that General Electric will post 5.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total value of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on GE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of General Electric in a research report on Wednesday, January 22nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.73.

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.