General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stock Price Up 0.1% – Time to Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price shot up 0.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $175.17 and last traded at $173.13. 1,328,236 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 6,100,861 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.91.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Melius Research upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.93.

General Electric Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $182.30 and a 200 day moving average of $172.16. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market cap of $187.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The company had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. General Electric’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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 company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in General Electric by 117.7% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $51,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 603,988 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $96,016,000 after purchasing an additional 57,372 shares during the last quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,569,000. State Street Corp lifted 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 purchasing an additional 898,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Senator Investment Group LP bought a new position in General Electric during the second quarter worth about $34,973,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.