General Electric (NYSE:GE) Sees Significant Growth in Short Interest

General Electric (NYSE:GE) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of December. As of December 15th, there was short interest totalling 11,860,000 shares, an increase of 5.5% from the November 30th total of 11,240,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,710,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.5 days. Approximately 1.1% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Electric news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total value of $2,772,409.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This represents 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 insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Tsfg LLC lifted its stake in General Electric by 12.8% in the third quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 485 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $92,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 2,267 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $428,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 1.0% during the third quarter. Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc. now owns 6,299 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD raised its stake in General Electric by 1.4% in the second quarter. Allegheny Financial Group LTD now owns 4,489 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $714,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meridian Management Co. lifted its holdings in General Electric by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Meridian Management Co. now owns 5,153 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $972,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Melius Research boosted their price objective on General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on shares of General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. 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 MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.47.

General Electric Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE GE opened at $168.59 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $182.46 billion, a PE ratio of 29.63, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. General Electric has a twelve month low of $98.92 and a twelve month high of $194.80. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $174.59 and a 200-day simple moving average of $173.00.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. The company 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 19.68%.

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.