General Electric (NYSE:GE) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday after Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on the stock from $201.00 to $225.00. Sanford C. Bernstein currently has an outperform rating on the stock. General Electric traded as high as $191.79 and last traded at $191.79, with a volume of 7581 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.16.

GE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. StockNews.com downgraded General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $196.86.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in General Electric by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 59,100,643 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $10,373,936,000 after acquiring an additional 5,309,543 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the second quarter worth $2,613,332,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 2,818.1% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 12,749,560 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,237,930,000 after purchasing an additional 12,312,648 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased 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 worth $1,336,257,000 after purchasing an additional 459,201 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its holdings 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 worth $1,250,079,000 after purchasing an additional 4,907,530 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Trading Up 0.8 %

The stock has a market cap of $210.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.16, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $176.30 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $166.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced 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. General Electric had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The company had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.44 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.68 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.2 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.58%. 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.