General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 1.2% Following Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) shot up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday after UBS Group raised their price target on the stock from $191.00 to $201.00. UBS Group currently has a buy rating on the stock. General Electric traded as high as $164.43 and last traded at $162.68. 1,760,240 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 7,560,277 shares. The stock had previously closed at $160.81.

GE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TD Cowen upgraded shares of 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 research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Argus upped 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. Finally, Bank of America upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $176.00.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GE. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,311 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $3,613,000 after acquiring an additional 6,419 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 261,187 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $33,335,000 after acquiring an additional 28,985 shares in the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 10.9% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 109,332 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $12,087,000 after acquiring an additional 10,722 shares in the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 24,042.9% in the fourth quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 10,140 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,294,000 after acquiring an additional 10,098 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Grandfield & Dodd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 9.3% in the fourth quarter. Grandfield & Dodd LLC now owns 269,783 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $34,432,000 after acquiring an additional 22,998 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 74.77% of the company's stock.

General Electric Stock Up 2.8 %

The firm's fifty day moving average price is $162.39 and its 200-day moving average price is $143.21. 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 has a market capitalization of $180.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 54.18, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.25.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 3.98 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.68%. This is a boost from General Electric's previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. 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.