General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 1.9% Higher – Here’s Why

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price traded up 1.9% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as high as $171.97 and last traded at $171.75. 705,055 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 70% from the average session volume of 2,364,866 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.59.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GE has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their price target on General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Melius Research raised their target price on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.47.

General Electric Stock Performance

The business’s fifty day moving average is $174.59 and its two-hundred day moving average is $173.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $186.57 billion, a PE ratio of 30.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. 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 posted 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 net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 19.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GE. Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new position in General Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,613,332,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in General Electric by 91.8% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,465,598,000 after buying an additional 3,719,894 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in General Electric in the second quarter worth approximately $580,200,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Electric by 21,069.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,173,142 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $598,391,000 after buying an additional 3,158,153 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in General Electric by 18,693.9% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,614,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $256,581,000 after buying an additional 1,605,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.