General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 0.9% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE) traded up 0.9% during trading on Tuesday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $203.00 to $212.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. General Electric traded as high as $187.88 and last traded at $187.72. 1,093,889 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 80% from the average session volume of 5,455,637 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.00.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on GE. Bank of America increased their price target on General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Northcoast Research raised General Electric from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $205.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $215.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on shares of General Electric from $235.00 to $228.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Electric currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $213.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in General Electric by 133.3% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 147 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 84 shares during the period. Hager Investment Management Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Putney Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in General Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Electric Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $197.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $186.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $199.35 billion, a PE ratio of 31.01, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 1.04.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a return on equity of 22.19% and a net margin of 14.31%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Electric will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.78%. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 24.04%.

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.