Short Interest in General Electric (NYSE:GE) Decreases By 7.3%

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant decrease in short interest during the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 11,240,000 shares, a decrease of 7.3% from the November 15th total of 12,130,000 shares. Approximately 1.0% of the company's stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 4,630,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. 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. Melius Research boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped 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. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $201.93.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In other 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 transaction of $1,267,910.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This trade represents a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total value of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 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 hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GE. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new position in General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the third quarter worth $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric in the third quarter valued at about $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in General Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its position in General Electric by 97.5% during the second 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 last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Electric Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:GE traded down $0.22 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $165.79. 6,563,268 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,136,417. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $180.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $172.50. The firm has a market cap of $179.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.17. General Electric has a twelve month low of $98.48 and a twelve month high of $194.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.13.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. General Electric'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 business earned $0.82 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.24 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.68%. General Electric's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.68%.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.