General Electric (NYSE:GE) Sets New 1-Year High at $158.69

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shares reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $158.69 and last traded at $156.83, with a volume of 829589 shares. The stock had previously closed at $154.63.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America reduced their price objective on General Electric from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 8th. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $160.07.

General Electric Price Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $171.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $158.53 and a 200 day moving average of $133.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Shareholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 13.38%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total value of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, 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 insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Walker Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 1.7% in the first quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $722,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 4,316 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $550,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in General Electric by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $814,000 after purchasing an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV boosted its holdings in General Electric by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 4,067 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $519,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Brown Inc. boosted its holdings in General Electric by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 8,322 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,062,000 after purchasing an additional 85 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 operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It offers gas and steam turbines, full balance of plant, upgrade, and service solutions, as well as data-leveraging software for power generation, industrial, government, and other customers.