General Electric (NYSE:GE) Reaches New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday after Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on the stock from $210.00 to $212.00. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft currently has a buy rating on the stock. General Electric traded as high as $189.15 and last traded at $188.85, with a volume of 313108 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $187.43.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on GE. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 1st. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on General Electric from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 28th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $191.36.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Studio Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Electric by 97.5% during the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the period. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda bought a new position in shares of General Electric in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in General Electric during the 1st quarter valued at about $34,000. 74.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Electric Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $207.75 billion, a PE ratio of 62.23, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.18. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $169.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $170.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.99 by $0.21. General Electric had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 7.66%. The company had revenue of $9.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 earnings per share. General Electric’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 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.