General Electric (NYSE:GE) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at StockNews.com

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) in a research report issued on Friday. The brokerage set a "hold" rating on the conglomerate's stock.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on GE. 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. Citigroup upped their price target on General Electric from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, December 11th. Vertical Research started coverage on General Electric in a research note on Thursday. They set a "buy" rating and a $160.00 price target for the company. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $148.79.

General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of GE stock traded up $8.91 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $156.30. The stock had a trading volume of 14,768,738 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,665,200. The firm has a market capitalization of $170.88 billion, a PE ratio of 18.54, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.29. General Electric has a twelve month low of $93.47 and a twelve month high of $180.36. The stock's 50 day moving average is $155.11 and its 200 day moving average is $131.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.85.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.27 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,552,351.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. boosted its stake in General Electric by 1.7% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in General Electric by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 6,377 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $814,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV boosted its stake in General Electric by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Forte Capital LLC ADV now owns 4,067 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $519,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. boosted its stake in General Electric by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 8,322 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,062,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC boosted its stake in General Electric by 55.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 243 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company's stock.

About General Electric

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.