General Electric (NYSE:GE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

General Electric (NYSE:GE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $201.47.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GE shares. Citigroup raised their target price on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada cut 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 price objective on General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total value 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. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Electric by 97.5% during the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in General Electric in the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in General Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of GE opened at $172.85 on Friday. General Electric has a 52 week low of $100.95 and a 52 week high of $194.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.13. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $174.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $173.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $187.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 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. Equities analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

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

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.