Wells Fargo & Company Boosts General Electric (NYSE:GE) Price Target to $205.00

General Electric (NYSE:GE) had its target price lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $192.00 to $205.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. TD Cowen upgraded shares of General Electric from a hold rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $175.00 to $180.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 9th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their target price on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $209.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, June 10th. Finally, Vertical Research assumed coverage on shares of General Electric in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They set a buy rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Two 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 company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $183.93.

General Electric Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of General Electric stock opened at $169.81 on Wednesday. General Electric has a twelve month low of $84.42 and a twelve month high of $177.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.14, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The stock has a market cap of $184.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 55.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $162.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $156.49.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $9.09 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.44 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.68 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 11th were issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.66%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 11th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.72%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Russell Stokes sold 45,309 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $162.82, for a total transaction of $7,377,211.38. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 112,958 shares in the company, valued at $18,391,821.56. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Macroview Investment Management LLC increased its stake in General Electric by 37.9% in the second quarter. Macroview Investment Management LLC now owns 211 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. lifted its stake in General Electric by 2.2% in the second quarter. New England Research & Management Inc. now owns 2,910 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $463,000 after acquiring an additional 63 shares during the last quarter. Choate Investment Advisors raised its position in shares of General Electric by 0.4% in the first quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 16,000 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $2,808,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of General Electric by 1.0% in the second quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,770 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,076,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Finally, Walker Asset Management LLC increased its position in General Electric by 1.7% during the first quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $722,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.