Jefferies Financial Group Boosts General Electric (NYSE:GE) Price Target to $185.00

General Electric (NYSE:GE) had its price objective upped by Jefferies Financial Group from $180.00 to $185.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on GE. Oppenheimer restated a market perform rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $180.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $120.43 to $186.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Electric currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $172.29.

General Electric Stock Up 1.3 %

GE opened at $164.49 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $180.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.93, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $161.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $136.80. General Electric has a twelve month low of $77.93 and a twelve month high of $166.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.27 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 3.93 earnings per share for the current year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.68%. This is a boost from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is 36.72%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Avestar Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth approximately $267,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in General Electric by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 351,098 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $38,814,000 after acquiring an additional 9,134 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in General Electric by 9.5% in the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 139,128 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $15,381,000 after purchasing an additional 12,020 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 977.2% during the third quarter. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 46,609 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $5,153,000 after purchasing an additional 42,282 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of General Electric by 26.9% during the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 583,995 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $64,561,000 after purchasing an additional 123,743 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Electric Company Profile

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.