General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading 1.9% Higher

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s stock price shot up 1.9% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $167.96 and last traded at $167.26. 1,389,945 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 7,864,379 shares. The stock had previously closed at $164.11.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays cut their target price on General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Citigroup raised their price objective on General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of General Electric from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Finally, Vertical Research assumed coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. They set a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $172.29.

General Electric Trading Up 0.0 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.17. The firm has a market cap of $184.84 billion, a PE ratio of 55.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $139.17.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.25 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.27 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 3.96 EPS for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.72%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Halpern Financial Inc. lifted its position in General Electric by 968.4% during the fourth quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. CGC Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 90.2% during the 4th quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 232 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 55.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the period. Finally, Bfsg LLC purchased a new stake in General Electric in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.