General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stock Price Up 1.7% – Time to Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price shot up 1.7% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $183.45 and last traded at $183.21. 704,707 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 6,173,176 shares. The stock had previously closed at $180.21.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America increased 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. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. 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, General Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.93.

General Electric Stock Performance

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 cap of $195.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $183.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $171.44.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The company had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.82 EPS. General Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. General Electric’s payout ratio is 19.68%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of General Electric 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,407,036.57. The trade was a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,181,801,000 after purchasing an additional 898,296 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in General Electric by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 22,587,961 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,244,676,000 after buying an additional 156,272 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new stake in General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,613,332,000. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in General Electric by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,405,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,336,257,000 after buying an additional 459,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in General Electric by 91.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,465,598,000 after acquiring an additional 3,719,894 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.