General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Down 0.6% – Should You Sell?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) dropped 0.6% during trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $169.74 and last traded at $170.76. Approximately 784,863 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 6,095,026 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.87.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Melius Research increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Citigroup boosted their target price on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, October 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.93.

General Electric Price Performance

The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $175.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $172.83. 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 $184.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.89, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17.

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. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The business had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.68%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in General Electric in the third quarter worth $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in General Electric during the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 97.5% in the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.