General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 0.8% – Should You Sell?

Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) traded down 0.8% on Monday . The company traded as low as $166.55 and last traded at $167.03. 694,609 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 6,129,830 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.37.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GE shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Melius Research upped 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 lifted 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. Citigroup upped their target price on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.93.

General Electric Trading Up 0.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $177.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.50. The firm has a market cap of $182.34 billion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.68%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction 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 owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,407,036.57. The trade was a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lantz Financial LLC grew its holdings in General Electric by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 3,718 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $591,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the second quarter valued at $794,000. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC increased its position in General Electric by 54.3% during the 2nd quarter. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares in the last quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 20.6% in the 2nd quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,823 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $290,000 after purchasing an additional 312 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in General Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.