General Electric (NYSE:GE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Buy” from Brokerages

General Electric (NYSE:GE – Get Rating) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the seventeen analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $115.67.

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of General Electric from $118.00 to $107.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 27th. Zacks Investment Research upgraded shares of General Electric from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Monday, March 7th. Credit Suisse Group reduced their price objective on shares of General Electric from $113.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 27th. Barclays cut their target price on shares of General Electric from $100.00 to $96.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, May 24th. Finally, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of General Electric in a research report on Thursday, March 31st. They set a “hold” rating for the company.

In related news, major shareholder Electric Co General sold 72,025,826 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $34.45, for a total value of $2,481,289,705.70. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 3,931,363 shares in the company, valued at $135,435,455.35. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Paula Rosput Reynolds bought 1,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $77.65 per share, with a total value of $93,180.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 5,563 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $431,966.95. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 69,801 shares of company stock valued at $5,207,705. Insiders own 0.70% of the company’s stock.

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. M Holdings Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the first quarter worth $969,000. Verity Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the first quarter worth $40,000. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 3.6% during the first quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 4,046,607 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $368,442,000 after purchasing an additional 139,765 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 10.5% during the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 907,715 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $83,397,000 after purchasing an additional 86,270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Toroso Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 87.4% during the first quarter. Toroso Investments LLC now owns 35,871 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $3,282,000 after purchasing an additional 16,725 shares in the last quarter. 67.37% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NYSE GE opened at $78.76 on Friday. General Electric has a 12 month low of $71.14 and a 12 month high of $116.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71, a current ratio of 1.19 and a quick ratio of 0.88. The company has a market capitalization of $86.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.82 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $84.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.22.

General Electric (NYSE:GE – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 26th. The conglomerate reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.20 by $0.04. General Electric had a negative net margin of 6.43% and a positive return on equity of 6.41%. The company had revenue of $17.04 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.24 EPS. General Electric’s revenue for the quarter was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Electric will post 2.83 earnings per share for the current year.

About General Electric (Get Rating)

General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through four segments: Power, Renewable Energy, Aviation, and Healthcare segments. The Power segment 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.

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