General Electric (NYSE:GE) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

General Electric (NYSE:GE) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 13,180,000 shares, a growth of 11.1% from the December 15th total of 11,860,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,770,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 1.2% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,289 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,407,036.57. The trade was a 34.50 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total transaction of $2,772,409.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at $26,539,714.53. The trade was a 9.46 % decrease in their position. 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

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Toth Financial Advisory Corp bought a new stake in General Electric in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. bought a new stake in General Electric in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in General Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Peterson Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in General Electric in the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, RPg Family Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Stock Up 1.7 %

NYSE GE traded up $3.09 on Monday, hitting $182.83. 5,887,078 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,238,171. The company has a current ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $174.33 and a 200 day moving average of $174.16. General Electric has a twelve month low of $101.16 and a twelve month high of $194.80. The company has a market capitalization of $197.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $9.84 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The business’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.82 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Investors 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 0.61%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GE has been the topic of several research reports. Northcoast Research assumed coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Melius Research upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Electric currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.47.

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.