General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 1.6% Higher – What’s Next?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shot up 1.6% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $164.37 and last traded at $162.57. 970,844 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 6,117,005 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.95.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GE shares. Citigroup lifted their price target on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Bank of America lifted their target price on General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group raised 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. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Melius Research boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.93.

General Electric Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $178.99 billion, a PE ratio of 29.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. 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 $178.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.43.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The business’s quarterly 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. Equities analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.68%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,539,714.53. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GE. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the second quarter worth $2,613,332,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in General Electric by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $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 valued at approximately $580,200,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 21,069.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,173,142 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $598,391,000 after buying an additional 3,158,153 shares during the period. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,605,434 shares in the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.