General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Down 1.1% – Time to Sell?

Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) fell 1.1% on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $189.76 and last traded at $190.45. 979,550 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 85% from the average session volume of 6,371,956 shares. The stock had previously closed at $192.63.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. 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 research report on Thursday, October 10th. StockNews.com cut shares of General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $196.86.

General Electric Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $210.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 63.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.18. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $177.46 and a 200-day moving average of $166.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.14.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $9.09 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 36.72%.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 10.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 603,988 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $96,016,000 after purchasing an additional 57,372 shares in the last quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in General Electric during the second quarter worth $1,569,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in General Electric by 25.4% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,999 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,702,000 after acquiring an additional 3,442 shares during the last quarter. Senator Investment Group LP bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,973,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 181,971 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $28,928,000 after purchasing an additional 7,670 shares during 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.