General Electric (NYSE:GE) Reaches New 1-Year High Following Dividend Announcement

General Electric (NYSE:GE) reached a new 52-week high on Monday following a dividend announcement from the company. The stock traded as high as $180.48 and last traded at $178.88, with a volume of 727320 shares. The stock had previously closed at $178.28.

The newly announced dividend which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.62%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.72%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group boosted their price target on General Electric from $201.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on General Electric from $195.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein assumed coverage on General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $201.00 price target for the company. Two 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 a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.14.

General Electric Stock Down 0.6 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $167.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $170.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $197.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 59.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.18.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.44 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 7.66%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Studio Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 97.5% in the second quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in General Electric in the first quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.