General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 1.9% Higher – Still a Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) traded up 1.9% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $175.27 and last traded at $175.00. 746,293 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 6,313,671 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.78.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein upped 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. Barclays increased their price objective on General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Citigroup increased their price objective on General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, StockNews.com cut General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Two equities research 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $200.93.

General Electric Stock Down 0.0 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $185.83 billion, a PE ratio of 30.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $180.20 and a two-hundred day moving average of $169.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.82 EPS. General Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.22 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Costello Asset Management INC grew its holdings in General Electric by 92.0% during the 3rd quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 167 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. XML Financial LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 5.1% during the third quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 5,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 15.7% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 23,407 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,414,000 after purchasing an additional 3,179 shares during the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 59.7% during the third quarter. Essex Savings Bank now owns 3,240 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,211 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 1.7% during the third quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,566 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.