General Electric (NYSE:GE) Trading Down 2.8%

General Electric (NYSE:GE)’s share price was down 2.8% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $174.86 and last traded at $175.04. Approximately 2,596,871 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 56% from the average daily volume of 5,952,074 shares. The stock had previously closed at $180.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GE. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of General Electric from $177.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TheStreet upgraded General Electric from a “c+” rating to a “b+” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on General Electric from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. StockNews.com started coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on General Electric from $148.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $150.54.

General Electric Stock Performance

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $151.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $129.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. The company has a market cap of $191.90 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 1.28.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The firm had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.27 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that General Electric will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other General Electric news, 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 value of $1,843,615.55. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 48,339 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of General Electric stock in a transaction 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Halpern Financial Inc. increased its stake in General Electric by 968.4% during the fourth quarter. Halpern Financial Inc. now owns 203 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. Aspect Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Criterion Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Dagco Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Electric during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. 74.77% of the stock is 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.