General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Up 0.4% – Still a Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) was up 0.4% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $179.94 and last traded at $179.50. Approximately 609,761 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 90% from the average daily volume of 6,168,956 shares. The stock had previously closed at $178.70.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on GE shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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 report on Wednesday, October 23rd. 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. Melius Research upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.93.

General Electric Stock Up 1.4 %

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 stock has a market capitalization of $196.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $183.22 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $171.12.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. The business 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%. General Electric’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.82 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of General Electric by 94.4% during the 1st quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 10,405 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,826,000 after purchasing an additional 5,054 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Electric during the first quarter worth about $299,000. Caxton Associates LP bought a new position in General Electric in the 1st quarter worth about $744,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI raised its holdings in shares of General Electric by 39.4% in the 1st quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 698,829 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $122,665,000 after acquiring an additional 197,397 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Silvercrest Asset Management Group LLC now owns 28,358 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,978,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.