General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Gap Up on Strong Earnings

General Electric (NYSE:GE) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $150.19, but opened at $157.83. General Electric shares last traded at $156.47, with a volume of 3,871,396 shares traded.

The conglomerate reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.69%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 13.38%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, Bank of America reduced their target price on General Electric from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $160.07.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in General Electric by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,288,136,000 after purchasing an additional 550,996 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 4.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,170,551,000 after buying an additional 410,061 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in General Electric by 5.1% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $990,032,000 after acquiring an additional 434,736 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in General Electric by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,655,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $849,385,000 after acquiring an additional 426,794 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Stock Up 8.3 %

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $159.94 and its 200 day simple moving average is $135.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.18. The company has a market cap of $177.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.29.

General Electric Company Profile

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.