General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Up 1.7% After Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price was up 1.7% on Friday after Citigroup raised their price target on the stock from $198.00 to $216.00. Citigroup currently has a buy rating on the stock. General Electric traded as high as $191.74 and last traded at $191.41. Approximately 807,030 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 6,404,721 shares. The stock had previously closed at $188.12.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. UBS Group upped their target price on General Electric from $201.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $195.14.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 550,996 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position 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 buying an additional 5,309,543 shares in the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,613,332,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 2,818.1% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,749,560 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,237,930,000 after buying an additional 12,312,648 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its holdings in shares of General Electric by 5.8% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,405,731 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,336,257,000 after acquiring an additional 459,201 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Stock Up 1.8 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $174.99 and a 200 day moving average of $166.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $207.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 45.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.18.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. The company 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.2 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 26.54%.

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.