General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 0.6% – What’s Next?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) rose 0.6% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $173.68 and last traded at $172.94. Approximately 1,184,640 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 61% from the average daily volume of 3,034,132 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.96.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup raised their price objective on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Melius Research raised their price target on General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.47.

General Electric Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $186.67 billion, a PE ratio of 30.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $174.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $173.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the business’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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at $26,539,714.53. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GE. Studio Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 97.5% in the second quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth about $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.