The Goldman Sachs Group Raises General Electric (NYSE:GE) Price Target to $211.00

General Electric (NYSE:GE) had its price target increased by The Goldman Sachs Group from $190.00 to $211.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a buy rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lowered their target price on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Vertical Research began coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a buy rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Sunday. They issued a hold rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $167.29.

General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of GE opened at $159.19 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $160.20 and its 200-day moving average is $135.55. General Electric has a 12 month low of $76.87 and a 12 month high of $163.65. The firm has a market cap of $174.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. General Electric had a net margin of 5.05% and a return on equity of 12.54%. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.27 EPS. General Electric’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that General Electric will post 3.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a boost from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.70%. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 36.72%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric 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 owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in General Electric by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,288,136,000 after acquiring an additional 550,996 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in General Electric by 4.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,170,551,000 after buying an additional 410,061 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,193,159,000. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in General Electric by 5.1% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 8,955,511 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $990,032,000 after buying an additional 434,736 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in General Electric by 6.9% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 6,655,053 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $849,385,000 after buying an additional 426,794 shares in the last quarter. 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.