General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 0.5% Higher on Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price was up 0.5% on Friday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from $210.00 to $212.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. General Electric traded as high as $187.07 and last traded at $187.05. Approximately 1,820,223 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 72% from the average daily volume of 6,602,003 shares. The stock had previously closed at $186.16.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on GE. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, General Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $191.36.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 97.5% in the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric in the first quarter worth about $37,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Electric Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day moving average of $168.12 and a 200 day moving average of $171.06. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $205.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 61.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.18.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.21. The business 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.72%.

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.