General Electric (NYSE:GE) Declares $0.28 Quarterly Dividend

General Electric (NYSE:GE) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, December 13th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of 0.28 per share by the conglomerate on Monday, January 27th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%.

General Electric has a payout ratio of 21.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect General Electric to earn $5.19 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 21.6%.

General Electric Stock Up 0.7 %

GE stock traded up $1.18 on Friday, reaching $166.01. 4,508,819 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,123,543. General Electric has a one year low of $95.92 and a one year high of $194.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.42. The company has a market cap of $179.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.82 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America lifted their target price on General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Electric currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.93.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In other news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total transaction of $1,267,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total transaction of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.