General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 0.5% – Time to Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares rose 0.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $175.02 and last traded at $174.96. Approximately 686,283 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 6,331,272 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.05.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.93.

General Electric Trading Up 0.6 %

The business has a 50-day moving average price of $180.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.82. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $189.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.75, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.18.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.82 EPS. Analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.64%. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 19.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GE. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new position in General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the third quarter worth $27,000. Studio Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Electric by 97.5% during the second quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in General Electric during the 1st quarter worth approximately $34,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.