General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stock Price Up 1% – Still a Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price shot up 1% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $170.90 and last traded at $170.70. 637,784 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 90% from the average session volume of 6,121,309 shares. The stock had previously closed at $169.02.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GE shares. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.93.

General Electric Price Performance

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $177.49 and a 200-day moving average of $172.63. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $185.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.14, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.65%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.68%.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.