General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stock Price Up 0.5% – Time to Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price rose 0.5% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $175.02 and last traded at $174.96. Approximately 686,283 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 89% from the average daily volume of 6,331,272 shares. The stock had previously closed at $174.05.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Melius Research increased their price objective on General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective 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 investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.93.

General Electric Stock Performance

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $180.18 and a 200-day moving average of $168.89. The firm has a market cap of $186.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.18. 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) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The business had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.82 EPS. General Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.22 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors 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 dividend yield of 0.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 19.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 1st quarter valued at $3,044,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,975 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $698,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 2.8% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 84,940 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $14,907,000 after buying an additional 2,328 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 1st quarter worth $288,000. Finally, Mission Wealth Management LP lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 37.1% during the 1st quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 11,395 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,000,000 after buying an additional 3,081 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.