General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 1.9% – Should You Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares rose 1.9% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $171.97 and last traded at $171.75. Approximately 705,055 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 70% from the average daily volume of 2,364,866 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.59.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Melius Research boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.47.

General Electric Stock Performance

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 has a 50-day moving average of $174.45 and a 200-day moving average of $173.12. The company has a market cap of $186.11 billion, a PE ratio of 30.22, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.17.

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

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Electric 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 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 represents a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the business’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. The trade was a 34.50 % 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.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GE. State Street Corp grew its stake in General Electric by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,181,801,000 after buying an additional 898,296 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of General Electric by 0.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 156,272 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,613,332,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in General Electric by 5.8% during 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 boosted its stake in General Electric by 91.8% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,465,598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,719,894 shares during the period. 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.