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

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price traded down 0.8% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $166.15 and last traded at $166.79. 2,804,751 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 54% from the average session volume of 6,084,345 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.10.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GE shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lifted their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, General Electric presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.47.

General Electric Trading Up 1.1 %

The firm has a market cap of $182.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average is $174.59 and its 200-day moving average is $173.00.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.84 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 117.7% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in General Electric by 10.5% in 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 in the last quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric during the 2nd quarter worth about $1,569,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 898,296 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 269.8% in the third quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,201 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,318,000 after buying an additional 20,575 shares during the period. Institutional investors 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.