General Electric (NYSE:GE) Short Interest Down 10.9% in March

General Electric (NYSE:GE) saw a large drop in short interest in the month of March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,360,000 shares, a drop of 10.9% from the March 15th total of 12,750,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the company’s shares are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,880,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 1.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on GE shares. TheStreet raised General Electric from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.07.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of General Electric by 17.3% in the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,639,533,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,356 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of General Electric by 122,242.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,438,063 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $878,644,000 after acquiring an additional 13,427,079 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,170,551,000 after purchasing an additional 410,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,193,159,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Electric Stock Down 1.9 %

GE stock opened at $154.63 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $169.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.29. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $74.78 and a fifty-two week high of $158.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $157.82 and a 200-day moving average of $133.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.72%. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 3.82%.

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.