General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 0.1% – Time to Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares were up 0.1% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $182.24 and last traded at $180.66. Approximately 489,320 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 6,115,825 shares. The stock had previously closed at $180.44.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on General Electric from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Melius Research lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.93.

General Electric Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.75, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.17. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $183.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $171.80.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. General Electric’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.68%.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,407,036.57. The trade was a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total transaction 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. The trade was 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of General Electric by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,181,801,000 after buying an additional 898,296 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in General Electric by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,587,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,244,676,000 after acquiring an additional 156,272 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new position in General Electric in the second quarter worth $2,613,332,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,405,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,336,257,000 after purchasing an additional 459,201 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,465,598,000 after buying an additional 3,719,894 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.