General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 1.1% Higher After Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price traded up 1.1% during mid-day trading on Wednesday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $175.00 to $200.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. General Electric traded as high as $171.68 and last traded at $169.35. 982,538 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 7,095,092 shares. The stock had previously closed at $167.48.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on GE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $148.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 13th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $209.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. StockNews.com cut General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.71.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.82, for a total value of $7,377,211.38. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 112,958 shares in the company, valued at approximately $18,391,821.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in General Electric by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,288,136,000 after acquiring an additional 550,996 shares during the period. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 59,100,643 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $10,373,936,000 after purchasing an additional 5,309,543 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of General Electric by 2,818.1% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,749,560 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,237,930,000 after buying an additional 12,312,648 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,193,159,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of General Electric by 221.6% in the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,121,741 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,250,079,000 after buying an additional 4,907,530 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Trading Up 1.7 %

The business has a 50-day moving average of $162.70 and a two-hundred day moving average of $157.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $184.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.21.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. The business had revenue of $9.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.44 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 7.66%. General Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.15 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 11th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 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.