StockNews.com Begins Coverage on General Electric (NYSE:GE)

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

Other equities research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on General Electric from $195.00 to $180.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. Oppenheimer restated a market perform rating on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. TheStreet upgraded General Electric from a c+ rating to a b+ rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. They issued a buy rating and a $190.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $160.07.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of General Electric stock opened at $162.62 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $159.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $135.39. General Electric has a 12 month low of $76.87 and a 12 month high of $163.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $177.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 1.29. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The conglomerate reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $16.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.25 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The business’s revenue was up 11.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.27 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that General Electric will post 3.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be given 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 0.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 12th. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.38%.

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 stock was 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 $8,153,863.08. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other 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 value of $1,843,615.55. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal 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 completion of the sale, 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. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GE. Halpern Financial Inc. raised its stake in General Electric by 968.4% in the fourth quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 184 shares in the last quarter. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 90.2% in the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 232 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Capital Analysts LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 243 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 87 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bfsg LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Electric Company Profile

General Electric Company, doing business as GE Aerospace, designs and produces commercial and defense aircraft engines, integrated engine components, electric power, and mechanical aircraft systems. It also offers aftermarket services to support its products. The company operates in the United States, Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa.