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

Equities research analysts at StockNews.com began coverage on shares of General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) in a report released on Saturday. The firm set a "hold" rating on the conglomerate's stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on GE. Barclays cut their price target on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of General Electric in a report on Tuesday, March 5th. TheStreet upgraded shares of General Electric from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America cut their price target on shares of General Electric from $175.00 to $165.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 8th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $156.67.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GE traded down $2.76 on Friday, reaching $154.63. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,851,291 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,557,198. General Electric has a 52-week low of $74.78 and a 52-week high of $158.44. The company has a market cap of $169.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47, a PEG ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $157.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $133.04. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $17.27 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. The business's revenue was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 3.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Electric by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $11,288,136,000 after acquiring an additional 550,996 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in General Electric by 17.3% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 48,490,012 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $4,639,533,000 after purchasing an additional 7,157,356 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in General Electric by 122,242.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in General Electric by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,170,551,000 after purchasing an additional 410,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in General Electric during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,193,159,000. Institutional investors 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.