General Electric (NYSE:GE) PT Lowered to $175.00

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Free Report) had its target price lowered by Barclays from $181.00 to $175.00 in a research note released on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the conglomerate's stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on GE. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 27th. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $135.00 to $148.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, December 11th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on shares of General Electric from $148.00 to $170.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of General Electric in a research note on Tuesday, March 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $151.38.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GE traded up $9.16 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $145.63. 16,201,702 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,457,152. The company has a market cap of $159.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.29. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $154.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $130.91. 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 has a twelve month low of $93.47 and a twelve month high of $180.36.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. 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 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In other news, 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 transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, 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 the firm's 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction of $1,843,615.55. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 Investors Weigh In On General Electric

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GE. Sei Investments Co. lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 10.0% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 305,384 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $27,925,000 after purchasing an additional 27,682 shares in the last quarter. Prudential PLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,518,000. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of General Electric by 2.9% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,748 shares of the conglomerate's stock valued at $1,075,000 after purchasing an additional 334 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in General Electric during the first quarter valued at approximately $388,000. Finally, West Family Investments Inc. purchased a new position in General Electric during the first quarter valued at approximately $230,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.