General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 1.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price shot up 1.1% 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 traded 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.

GE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Vertical Research started coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Argus boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. TD Cowen upgraded General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.82, for a total transaction of $7,377,211.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 112,958 shares in the company, valued at $18,391,821.56. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.66% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GE. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 28,150 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,593,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI now owns 6,206 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $792,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $253,000. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership raised its position in shares of General Electric by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Prio Wealth Limited Partnership now owns 23,805 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $3,038,000 after purchasing an additional 1,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Princeton Global Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in General Electric by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 639 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $82,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Electric Stock Performance

The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $162.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $157.23. The company has a market cap of $184.63 billion, a PE ratio of 55.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

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

General Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date 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.