General Electric (NYSE:GE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

General Electric (NYSE:GE) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $201.47.

GE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd.

General Electric Stock Performance

GE opened at $168.59 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $174.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.00. General Electric has a 52-week low of $98.92 and a 52-week high of $194.80. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $182.46 billion, a PE ratio of 29.63, a PEG 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 19.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Electric

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in General Electric during the third quarter worth $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in General Electric in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC grew its position in General Electric by 97.5% in the second quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.