General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 2.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price rose 2.2% during mid-day 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 mid-day trading, a decline of 71% from the average daily volume of 8,036,834 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.35.

A number of other equities research analysts have also weighed in on GE. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, TheStreet raised shares of General Electric from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $172.29.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $1,843,615.55. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The transaction 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 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $1,843,615.55. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Avestar Capital LLC purchased a new stake in General Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at $267,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 351,098 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $38,814,000 after buying an additional 9,134 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 9.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 139,128 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,381,000 after buying an additional 12,020 shares during the last quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 977.2% in the 3rd quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 46,609 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,153,000 after buying an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 26.9% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 583,995 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $64,561,000 after buying an additional 123,743 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Electric Trading Up 1.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $180.05 billion, a PE ratio of 53.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.29. 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 50 day moving average price of $161.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.80.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The company had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.27 EPS. General Electric’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that General Electric will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is a boost 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 was Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.72%.

About General Electric

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.