General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 0.9% - Time to Sell?

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) traded down 0.9% on Tuesday . The stock traded as low as $163.53 and last traded at $164.26. 948,561 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 6,114,540 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.79.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target 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. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Melius Research upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America increased 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.93.

General Electric Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $179.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $179.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.13 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 19.68%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at $26,539,714.53. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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. Insiders own 0.66% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $8,181,801,000 after purchasing an additional 898,296 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of 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 during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,613,332,000. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in General Electric by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,405,731 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,336,257,000 after acquiring an additional 459,201 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.