Al Root

GE Vernova stock has had a tremendous run, leaving Wall Street analysts with choices: raise price targets, upgrade, or downgrade.

BNP Paribas opted for the latter.

GE Vernova stock hit new 52-week highs this past week after reporting strong first-quarter results. Shares jumped nearly 14% on Wednesday. Coming into the week, Vernova stock was up 209% over the past 12 months, boosted by red-hot demand for power generation equipment.

Electricity demand is rising faster than it has in a generation, thanks in part to power-hungry AI data centers being built around the country.

Wall Street reacted to GE Vernova's quarter by raising price targets. The average target is currently about $1,179 a share, up from more than $210, or 22%, from $968 before earnings.

The stock's rise has also resulted in a couple of downgrades. The latest is from BNP Paribas, which cut its rating to Hold from Buy, according to FactSet. Things are good, but GE Vernova has essentially sold out its turbine capacity through the end of the decade, making further growth more difficult.

Barron's hasn't seen a copy of the report yet. BNP didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

BNP's new target price is $1,190, up from a recent $765. Shares were below that price as recently as February.

GE Vernova stock was down 1.6% in premarket trading Monday at $1,131, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were flat and down 0.1%, respectively.

With the cut, 74% of analysts covering the company rate shares Buy. The average Buy-rating ratio for stocks in the S&P 500 typically ranges from 55% to 60%.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 27, 2026 09:13 ET (13:13 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.