General Electric (NYSE:GE) Earns Hold Rating from Analysts at StockNews.com

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

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target 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. Barclays cut their price target on General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 3rd. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded General Electric from a hold rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $175.00 to $180.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to 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 $153.71 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $158.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $133.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $168.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.36, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 1.29. General Electric has a fifty-two week low of $76.38 and a fifty-two week high of $158.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 1.18.

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

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Investors of record on Monday, April 15th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.73%. This is a boost from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s payout ratio is presently 13.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of General Electric by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $11,288,136,000 after acquiring an additional 550,996 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of General Electric by 17.3% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $4,639,533,000 after acquiring an additional 7,157,356 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of General Electric by 122,242.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 13,427,079 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of General Electric by 4.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $1,170,551,000 after acquiring an additional 410,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,193,159,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.