General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Up 0.2% – Should You Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shot up 0.2% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $166.63 and last traded at $166.09. 1,589,367 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 74% from the average session volume of 6,112,062 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.80.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on GE. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.93.

General Electric Stock Down 0.9 %

The stock’s 50-day moving average is $179.47 and its 200-day moving average is $172.52. The stock has a market cap of $177.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. General Electric’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the company’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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total value of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. 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

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lantz Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 1.9% in the second quarter. Lantz Financial LLC now owns 3,718 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $591,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in General Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at $408,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its holdings in General Electric by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 3,929 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 778 shares during the period. Vicus Capital boosted its holdings in General Electric by 51.0% during the second quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 2,059 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $327,000 after acquiring an additional 695 shares during the period. Finally, PSI Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of General Electric by 9.5% in the second quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 887 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.