General Electric (NYSE:GE) Price Target Increased to $185.00 by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

General Electric (NYSE:GE) had its price target lifted by Jefferies Financial Group from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. TD Cowen raised General Electric from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Oppenheimer reissued a market perform rating on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com began coverage on General Electric in a report on Monday. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Finally, Argus increased their price objective on General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $172.29.

General Electric Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE:GE opened at $162.64 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $161.72 and its 200 day moving average is $137.50. General Electric has a 1 year low of $77.93 and a 1 year high of $166.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $178.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.27 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Electric news, 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 transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,288,136,000 after acquiring an additional 550,996 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 4.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,170,551,000 after acquiring an additional 410,061 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 5.1% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $990,032,000 after acquiring an additional 434,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,655,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $849,385,000 after purchasing an additional 426,794 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.