General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Down 0.6% – Time to Sell?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell 0.6% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $179.85 and last traded at $180.01. 1,187,491 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 81% from the average session volume of 6,159,488 shares. The stock had previously closed at $181.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $200.93.

General Electric Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $195.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $183.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $171.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at General Electric

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total transaction of $1,267,910.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. The trade was a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GE. Tsfg LLC grew its holdings in General Electric by 12.8% during the third quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Macroview Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 211 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Electric by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 2,267 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. lifted its stake in General Electric by 1.0% during the third quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 6,299 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allegheny Financial Group LTD boosted its holdings in General Electric by 1.4% during the second quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD now owns 4,489 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $714,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by 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.