General Electric (NYSE:GE) Shares Up 1.2% – Still a Buy?

General Electric (NYSE:GE) shot up 1.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $212.19 and last traded at $210.72. 848,316 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 84% from the average session volume of 5,470,866 shares. The stock had previously closed at $208.27.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GE. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $200.00 price target on shares of General Electric in a report on Wednesday, January 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $216.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $211.31.

General Electric Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $224.24 billion, a PE ratio of 34.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.88, a current ratio of 1.09 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $185.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $180.43.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by $0.27. General Electric had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 22.19%. On average, research analysts expect that General Electric will post 5.4 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.36 dividend. This is a boost from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. This represents a $1.44 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.69%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 18.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GE. OLD National Bancorp IN raised its holdings in General Electric by 19.9% in the 3rd quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 3,294 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $621,000 after purchasing an additional 547 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 25.8% during the 3rd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 10,532 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,986,000 after acquiring an additional 2,161 shares during the last quarter. Copeland Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Ledyard National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 26.9% in the third quarter. Ledyard National Bank now owns 2,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $474,000 after buying an additional 532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 5.2% in the third quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,364 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,954,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.