William Blair analyst Nicholas Heymann believes General Electric's Q1 results on Friday "materially reduced" investor fears about the adequacy of the company's liquidity and the sustainability of its current 48c annual dividend. This was reinforced by much lower free cash flow use versus a year ago, larger than expected structural cost reductions, great clarity on additional asset dispositions, better than anticipated sales and adjusted earnings, and clarity around the adequacy of GE Capital's liquidity, Heymann tells investors in a post-earnings research note. He believes GE's 3.3% yield is now increasingly viewed as a compelling reason to own stock. While GE's challenges are "far from fully resolved," the risk of further downside due to liquidity constraints that might require equity sales or an additional reduction in the dividend appears to no longer represent a "material risk" to the stock, Heymann argues. He believes owning GE is likely to be "very rewarding" for investors. Heymann keeps an Outperform rating on General Electric. After rallying Friday, the shares are up another 13c to $14.67 in premarket trading

Citi raised the firm's price target on GE Aerospace to $186 from $120.43 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The company's' Q1 was better than expected and it modestly increased its full-year EBIT outlook, the analyst tells investors in a research note. The firm says commercial aftermarket demand remains robust.

BofA analyst Ronald Epstein raised the firm's price target on GE Aerospace to $180 from $165 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. GE boasts a unique portfolio with exposure across aircraft manufacturers, aircraft classes, legacy/new/nextgen platforms, and aftermarket/OE customers, says the firm, which believes GE is "strongly positioned to benefit from secular commercial aero growth."