General Electric (NYSE:GE) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Bank of America Analyst Says

General Electric (NYSE:GE) had its target price hoisted by Bank of America from $200.00 to $225.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Melius Research increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased 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 report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.73.

General Electric Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE:GE opened at $198.88 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. General Electric has a 52-week low of $104.98 and a 52-week high of $207.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $176.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $175.63. The company has a market capitalization of $215.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.19.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a net margin of 11.48% and a return on equity of 18.93%. As a group, analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 27th. Investors of record on Friday, December 27th were paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, December 27th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Electric news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total value of $2,772,409.50. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 148,857 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,539,714.53. This trade represents a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total value of $1,267,910.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at $2,407,036.57. The trade was a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GE. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in General Electric by 117.7% during the third quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $733,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in General Electric by 2.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,181,801,000 after acquiring an additional 898,296 shares during the period. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in General Electric by 269.8% during the third quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,201 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,318,000 after acquiring an additional 20,575 shares during the period. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in General Electric by 60.7% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,662 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,576,000 after acquiring an additional 5,162 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.