General Electric (NYSE:GE) Price Target Raised to $180.00

General Electric (NYSE:GE) had its price objective lifted by Bank of America from $165.00 to $180.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on GE. TheStreet upgraded shares of General Electric from a c+ rating to a b+ rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $170.00.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of General Electric stock opened at $162.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $160.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $136.09. General Electric has a twelve month low of $77.28 and a twelve month high of $163.65. The firm has a market cap of $177.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.29.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that General Electric will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 36.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $1,843,615.55. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,311 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,613,000 after buying an additional 6,419 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 261,187 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $33,335,000 after buying an additional 28,985 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 10.9% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 109,332 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $12,087,000 after buying an additional 10,722 shares during the period. Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,783 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,432,000 after buying an additional 22,998 shares during the period. Finally, Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,846,000. 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.