Bank of America reaffirmed their buy rating on shares of General Electric (NYSE: GE) in a research note released on Wednesday morning. They currently have a $25.00 price target on the stock.
“GE announced the divestiture of the remaining 49% stake in NBCU for $18.1bn, which we expected to be more of a ‘14 story. GE Industrial will receive $16.7bn for the equity stake in NBCU JV ($12bn cash+$4bn Comcast guaranteed debt+ $0.7bn preferred). GECC will receive $1.4bn for NBCU-occupied properties. The deal is expected to close by the end of 1Q13, and we estimate total Industrial after-tax cash proceeds of $13.5bn. The divestiture accelerates GE’s capital redeployment story ahead of our expectations, with announced share repurchase program raised from $15bn to $35bn with ~$23bn currently remaining under authorization. GE now expects to repurchase ~$10bn in ’13, more than double our current forecast of $4bn. Upside is also likely to our ’14 buyback forecast of $5bn.,” Bank of America’s analyst commented.
Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Citigroup reiterated a buy rating on shares of General Electric in a research note to investors on Wednesday. They now have a $25.00 price target on the stock. Separately, analysts at Deutsche Bank reiterated a buy rating on shares of General Electric in a research note to investors on Wednesday. They now have a $25.00 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a market perform rating on shares of General Electric in a research note to investors on Wednesday. They now have a $24.00 price target on the stock.
Fourteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, one has assigned an overweight rating, and four have issued a hold rating to the stock. The stock currently has an average rating of buy and a consensus price target of $24.97.
General Electric traded down 0.38% on Wednesday, hitting $23.32. General Electric has a 52-week low of $18.02 and a 52-week high of $23.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average is currently $21.83. The company has a market cap of $243.6 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.12.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled for Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, February 25th will be paid a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 21st.
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