General Electric (NYSE:GE) Short Interest Up 11.1% in December

General Electric (NYSE:GE) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,180,000 shares, an increase of 11.1% from the December 15th total of 11,860,000 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,770,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value of $1,267,910.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, 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 owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Toth Financial Advisory Corp purchased a new stake in General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. purchased a new stake in General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Northcoast Research began coverage on General Electric in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.47.

General Electric Trading Up 1.7 %

GE traded up $3.09 during trading on Monday, hitting $182.83. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,887,078 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,238,171. General Electric has a twelve month low of $101.16 and a twelve month high of $194.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $174.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $174.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $197.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.13, a PEG ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued 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. 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. General Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

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.