Bank of America Lowers General Electric (NYSE:GE) Price Target to $165.00

General Electric (NYSE:GE) had its price target cut by Bank of America from $175.00 to $165.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer reiterated a market perform rating on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Monday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $195.00 in a report on Monday, March 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $156.67.

General Electric Stock Up 0.7 %

GE stock opened at $157.68 on Monday. General Electric has a 52 week low of $93.47 and a 52 week high of $180.36. The company has a market capitalization of $172.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $157.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $132.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $19.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.27 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. General Electric’s revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. 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 yield of 0.71%. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 3.82%.

Insider Activity at General Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total value of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $1,843,615.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Halpern Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in General Electric by 968.4% in the 4th quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. Aspect Partners LLC bought a new stake in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new stake in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Electric in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Electric Company Profile

General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It offers gas and steam turbines, full balance of plant, upgrade, and service solutions, as well as data-leveraging software for power generation, industrial, government, and other customers.