General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 0.1% After Analyst Downgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE) dropped 0.1% 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 mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 6,361,910 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.69.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on GE. StockNews.com lowered General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted 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. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.93.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GE. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 9.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 59,100,643 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,373,936,000 after buying an additional 5,309,543 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,613,332,000. Capital World Investors grew its stake in General Electric by 2,818.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,749,560 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,237,930,000 after buying an additional 12,312,648 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in General Electric by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,405,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,336,257,000 after acquiring an additional 459,201 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in General Electric by 221.6% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,121,741 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,250,079,000 after acquiring an additional 4,907,530 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Electric Trading Down 1.1 %

The company has a market cap of $196.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.90, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $179.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.15.

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

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.62%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.