General Electric’s (GE) Outperform Rating Reaffirmed at Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their outperform rating on shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) in a report published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $200.00 price target on the conglomerate’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on GE. Melius Research raised their price target on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Northcoast Research initiated coverage on General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, January 7th. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.47.

General Electric Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of GE stock opened at $188.20 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.13 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $203.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.19. General Electric has a twelve month low of $101.16 and a twelve month high of $194.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $174.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $174.49.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.13 by $0.02. General Electric had a return on equity of 18.93% and a net margin of 11.48%. The company had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $9.02 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.82 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, December 27th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 27th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.60%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 19.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Electric news, SVP Riccardo Procacci sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.13, for a total transaction of $1,267,910.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,289 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,407,036.57. This represents a 34.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Russell Stokes sold 15,550 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.29, for a total transaction of $2,772,409.50. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 148,857 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,539,714.53. This represents a 9.46 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in General Electric by 117.7% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 270 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $51,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of General Electric by 10.5% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 603,988 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $96,016,000 after acquiring an additional 57,372 shares during the last quarter. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth $733,000. State Street Corp boosted its position in General Electric by 2.1% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 43,322,827 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $8,181,801,000 after purchasing an additional 898,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Soltis Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in General Electric by 269.8% in the 3rd quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 28,201 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $5,318,000 after purchasing an additional 20,575 shares during the period. 74.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.