General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Down 0.6% – Here’s Why

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares fell 0.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $182.02 and last traded at $182.41. 889,664 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 6,228,945 shares. The stock had previously closed at $183.56.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Melius Research boosted their target price on General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.93.

General Electric Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $191.45 billion, a PE ratio of 31.09, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $182.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $170.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 EPS 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 company had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.66% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GE. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 59,100,643 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,373,936,000 after buying an additional 5,309,543 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of General Electric by 2.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $8,181,801,000 after acquiring an additional 898,296 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in General Electric by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,587,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,244,676,000 after acquiring an additional 156,272 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in General Electric during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,613,332,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in General Electric by 2,818.1% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,749,560 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,237,930,000 after purchasing an additional 12,312,648 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.