General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 0.8% – Should You Sell?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell 0.8% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as low as $166.55 and last traded at $167.03. 694,609 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 6,129,830 shares. The stock had previously closed at $168.37.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GE shares. Melius Research increased their price target on General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.93.

General Electric Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The company has a market cap of $182.34 billion, a PE ratio of 29.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $177.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $172.50.

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

General Electric Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $26,539,714.53. The trade was a 9.46 % 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 Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. The trade was 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 company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GE. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,613,332,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 91.8% during the third quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,771,759 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,465,598,000 after acquiring an additional 3,719,894 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new position in General Electric in the second quarter worth about $580,200,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in General Electric by 21,069.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,173,142 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $598,391,000 after acquiring an additional 3,158,153 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in General Electric by 18,693.9% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 1,614,022 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $256,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,605,434 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.