General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 1% – Here’s Why

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Melius Research boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.93.

General Electric Trading Down 1.2 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The business has a 50 day moving average of $181.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $172.48. The firm has a market cap of $180.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.33, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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%. General Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. Analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.67%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 19.68%.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In other news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 97.5% in the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in shares of General Electric during the third quarter worth $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the third quarter worth $27,000. Finally, Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth $28,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by 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.