General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 0.8% – Time to Sell?

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price traded down 0.8% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $170.74 and last traded at $171.58. 1,371,924 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 67% from the average session volume of 4,194,340 shares. The stock had previously closed at $172.89.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Northcoast Research began coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price target on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $201.47.

General Electric Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $185.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.19. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $174.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.45.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total transaction of $1,267,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at $2,407,036.57. This trade represents a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Graypoint LLC increased its position in shares of General Electric by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 8,624 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,438,000 after acquiring an additional 282 shares during the last quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of General Electric by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,246 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $375,000 after purchasing an additional 183 shares during the last quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 21,719 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,623,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 9,693 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,617,000 after buying an additional 1,656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in General Electric by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 551,171 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $91,930,000 after buying an additional 4,828 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.