General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Down 1% – Time to Sell?

Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) dropped 1% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $166.85 and last traded at $166.90. Approximately 1,041,352 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 6,107,086 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.64.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently commented on GE. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.93.

General Electric Stock Performance

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 company has a market capitalization of $179.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.17, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $180.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $172.42.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.67%. General Electric’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the company’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 transaction of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value of $1,267,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new position in General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in General Electric during the 3rd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in General Electric by 97.5% in the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. 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.