General Electric (NYSE:GE) Receives New Coverage from Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE) in a report published on Saturday morning. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the conglomerate’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on GE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen raised shares of General Electric from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price objective for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $160.07.

General Electric Stock Performance

NYSE:GE opened at $154.63 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $74.78 and a fifty-two week high of $158.44. The stock has a market cap of $169.05 billion, a PE ratio of 18.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.29. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $157.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $133.04.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $19.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. Analysts expect that General Electric will post 3.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is a positive change from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.82%.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

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

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Walker Asset Management LLC grew its position in General Electric by 1.7% in the first quarter. Walker Asset Management LLC now owns 4,111 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $722,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. grew its position in shares of General Electric by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 4,316 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of General Electric by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,377 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $814,000 after buying an additional 75 shares in the last quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV grew its position in shares of General Electric by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 4,067 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atlas Brown Inc. grew its position in shares of General Electric by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 8,322 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,062,000 after buying an additional 85 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

General Electric Company Profile

General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It offers gas and steam turbines, full balance of plant, upgrade, and service solutions, as well as data-leveraging software for power generation, industrial, government, and other customers.