General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Up 1.6% - Still a Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) shares traded up 1.6% on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $164.37 and last traded at $162.57. 970,844 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 6,117,005 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.95.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GE has been the subject of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, October 10th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price objective 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, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their target price on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $201.93.

General Electric Stock Up 3.0 %

The company has a market cap of $178.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $178.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.38.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. The firm had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.24 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. General Electric's payout ratio is 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 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 owns 148,857 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value of $1,267,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. The trade was 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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

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