General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Down 1.8% – Time to Sell?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) dropped 1.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $180.75 and last traded at $181.29. Approximately 669,942 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 6,163,153 shares. The stock had previously closed at $184.60.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on General Electric from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America raised their price objective on General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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, General Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.93.

General Electric Trading Down 2.2 %

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 company has a market cap of $195.46 billion, a PE ratio of 31.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $171.50.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at $2,407,036.57. The trade was a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 modified their holdings of GE. Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.