General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 2.2% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares rose 2.2% during trading on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $165.00 to $192.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. General Electric traded as high as $166.00 and last traded at $165.89. Approximately 2,300,001 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 8,036,834 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.35.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Barclays decreased their target price on General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup boosted their price target on General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on General Electric from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.29.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total value of $3,195,107.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GE. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,193,159,000. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $520,488,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in General Electric by 265.7% in the 3rd quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,008,425 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $332,581,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,793 shares during the period. Lone Pine Capital LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $268,519,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in General Electric by 11,947.8% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,576,570 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $201,218,000 after acquiring an additional 1,563,484 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Electric Trading Up 1.3 %

The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $179.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.96, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $160.72 and a 200 day moving average of $136.43.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The firm’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.72%.

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.