General Electric (NYSE:GE) Hits New 52-Week High Following Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Monday after Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on the stock from $165.00 to $192.00. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the stock. General Electric traded as high as $166.00 and last traded at $165.89, with a volume of 2300001 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $162.35.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Argus increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $170.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on General Electric in a research report on Monday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on General Electric from $180.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $172.29.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $1,843,615.55. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Electric by 0.6% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,288,136,000 after buying an additional 550,996 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in General Electric by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,170,551,000 after acquiring an additional 410,061 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in General Electric during the 4th quarter valued at $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of General Electric by 5.1% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $990,032,000 after buying an additional 434,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its holdings in shares of General Electric by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,655,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $849,385,000 after buying an additional 426,794 shares during the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Electric Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $161.29 and a 200-day moving average of $137.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. The firm has a market capitalization of $177.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.03, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.29.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.69%. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 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.