Brokerages Set General Electric (NYSE:GE) Price Target at $196.86

General Electric (NYSE:GE) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and fourteen have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $198.53.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GE. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on General Electric from $190.00 to $210.00 in a report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price target on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GE. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings 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 worth $96,016,000 after buying an additional 57,372 shares in the last quarter. Marietta Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the 2nd quarter worth about $1,569,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 25.4% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 16,999 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,702,000 after purchasing an additional 3,442 shares in the last quarter. Senator Investment Group LP bought a new stake in General Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,973,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in shares of General Electric by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 181,971 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $28,928,000 after purchasing an additional 7,670 shares in the last quarter. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Electric Stock Down 9.1 %

GE stock opened at $176.59 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $193.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 57.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.18. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $84.58 and a fifty-two week high of $194.80. The business has a 50-day moving average of $179.24 and a 200-day moving average of $168.05.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. General Electric had a return on equity of 16.07% and a net margin of 7.66%. The firm had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.68 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 36.72%.

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.