StockNews.com Begins Coverage on General Electric (NYSE:GE)

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) in a report released on Sunday. The firm set a “hold” rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on GE. Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price objective on General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Vertical Research initiated coverage on General Electric in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $160.07.

General Electric Stock Performance

NYSE GE opened at $148.06 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $161.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.85. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $159.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $134.55. General Electric has a 1-year low of $76.87 and a 1-year high of $158.68.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 3.78 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $1,843,615.55. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GE. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 122,242.2% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,438,063 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $878,644,000 after purchasing an additional 13,427,079 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth $1,193,159,000. State Street Corp grew its holdings in General Electric by 17.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $4,639,533,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,356 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth $520,488,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in General Electric by 265.7% during the third quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 3,008,425 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $332,581,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,793 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.