General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 0.5% Following Analyst Upgrade

Shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) rose 0.5% on Tuesday after JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on the stock from $148.00 to $175.00. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has an overweight rating on the stock. General Electric traded as high as $160.82 and last traded at $160.34. Approximately 1,686,957 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 78% from the average daily volume of 7,713,574 shares. The stock had previously closed at $159.50.

GE has been the topic of several other research reports. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on General Electric from $165.00 to $192.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on General Electric from $190.00 to $211.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup upped their target price on General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, TD Cowen raised General Electric from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $174.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total value of $3,195,107.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GE. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 2,818.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in General Electric in the 4th quarter worth $1,193,159,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in General Electric by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 59,100,643 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $10,373,936,000 after buying an additional 5,309,543 shares during the last quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its stake in shares of General Electric by 221.6% during the first quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,121,741 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,250,079,000 after acquiring an additional 4,907,530 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $520,488,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company's stock.

General Electric Stock Up 0.3 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $175.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.46, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 1.17 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The firm's fifty day moving average is $163.04 and its 200-day moving average is $140.71.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. General Electric had a return on equity of 12.54% and a net margin of 5.05%. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.25 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. General Electric's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.96 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.70%. This is a boost from General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 12th. General Electric's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.