General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Up 1.1% Following Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report)'s stock price shot up 1.1% 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 $193.93 and last traded at $193.27. 892,447 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 6,387,553 shares. The stock had previously closed at $191.16.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on GE. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Electric has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $196.86.

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Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 9.0% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 196,581 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $37,071,000 after buying an additional 16,258 shares in the last quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. increased its position in General Electric by 6.4% in the third quarter. Wesbanco Bank Inc. now owns 60,935 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $11,491,000 after purchasing an additional 3,643 shares during the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC increased its position in General Electric by 3.5% in the third quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,466 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $465,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Grove Bank & Trust increased its position in General Electric by 3.1% in the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,382 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $638,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiduciary Alliance LLC bought a new stake in General Electric in the third quarter worth $240,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company's stock.

General Electric Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The firm has a market cap of $210.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 63.37, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.18. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $175.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $166.50.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. General Electric had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The business had revenue of $9.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $8.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. General Electric's 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.