General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 0.4% Higher – Time to Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price was up 0.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $182.12 and last traded at $181.42. Approximately 833,319 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 6,103,340 shares. The stock had previously closed at $180.72.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GE shares. Citigroup raised their price objective 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. Melius Research raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.93.

General Electric Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $197.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $182.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $172.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.13.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The business had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. General Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total value of $2,772,409.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in General Electric in the second quarter valued at about $2,613,332,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 91.8% in the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,465,598,000 after buying an additional 3,719,894 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA acquired a new stake in General Electric during the second quarter worth approximately $580,200,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 21,069.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,173,142 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $598,391,000 after purchasing an additional 3,158,153 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its stake in General Electric by 18,693.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,614,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $256,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,605,434 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.