General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 0.9% Higher – What’s Next?

Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) traded up 0.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $180.94 and last traded at $179.62. 1,298,745 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 6,179,957 shares. The stock had previously closed at $177.98.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup upped their price target on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com cut General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.93.

General Electric Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $196.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.19. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $171.10.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. The business 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%. General Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at General Electric

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $26,539,714.53. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of General Electric 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Studio Investment Management LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 97.5% during the second 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 last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth $28,000. 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.