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

General Electric (NYSE:GE) traded up 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. 2,300,001 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 71% from the average session volume of 8,036,834 shares. The stock had previously closed at $162.35.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on GE. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. TheStreet raised shares of General Electric from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $172.29.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were 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 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.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,288,136,000 after purchasing an additional 550,996 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,170,551,000 after purchasing an additional 410,061 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 5.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $990,032,000 after purchasing an additional 434,736 shares during the period. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 6.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,655,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $849,385,000 after purchasing an additional 426,794 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Stock Up 1.3 %

The company’s fifty day moving average is $160.72 and its 200-day moving average is $136.43. The company has a market capitalization of $179.93 billion, a PE ratio of 53.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This is an increase 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%. 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.