General Electric (NYSE:GE) Short Interest Up 6.8% in October

General Electric (NYSE:GE) saw a significant increase in short interest during the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 10,890,000 shares, an increase of 6.8% from the September 30th total of 10,200,000 shares. Currently, 1.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,700,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.3 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup raised 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. Barclays raised their price target on General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on General Electric from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.93.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Studio Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 97.5% during the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 1st quarter valued at $34,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of GE stock traded up $0.42 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $172.20. 2,634,700 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,322,579. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $180.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $168.89. General Electric has a 1-year low of $85.89 and a 1-year high of $194.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $186.37 billion, a PE ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.18.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. The company’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 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. General Electric’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

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.