General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Down 1.8% – Time to Sell?

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price dropped 1.8% on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $180.75 and last traded at $181.29. Approximately 669,942 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 6,163,153 shares. The stock had previously closed at $184.60.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.93.

General Electric Price Performance

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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $183.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $171.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $195.46 billion, a PE ratio of 31.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share 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 firm 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 posted $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total transaction of $1,267,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at $2,407,036.57. This represents 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GE. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,181,801,000 after purchasing an additional 898,296 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 0.7% during 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 during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,613,332,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 5.8% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,405,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,336,257,000 after purchasing an additional 459,201 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 91.8% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,465,598,000 after purchasing an additional 3,719,894 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.