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U.S. District judge, Jesse Furman, dismissed most but not all of a shareholder lawsuit accusing General Electric of concealing insurance liabilities and misleading its investors, according to Reuters.

The judge dismissed the fraud claims regarding the alleged misrepresentations of General Electric’s (GE) insurance portfolio and service agreements but allowed the shareholders to continue pursuing other claims, including certain allegations against former Chief Financial Officer, Jeffrey Bornstein.

General Electric paid a $200 million civil penalty in December in response to the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) allegations that it misled investors about its insurance and power businesses.

In an SEC filing, GE neither admitted nor denied the allegations but concluded that it was in the best interest of GE and its shareholders to “resolve this matter and put it behind us.”

Reuters reports that lawyers for the plaintiffs asked the judge to treat the settlement as an admission of guilt and as proof that GE had misled them. Judge Furman rejected this suggestion. (See General Electric stock analysis on TipRanks)

Barclays analyst Julian Mitchell reiterated his Buy rating on GE last week and raised his price to $13 from $12. This implies upside potential of around 22% from current levels.

Mitchell told investors he believes that GE shares are undervalued based on its Q4 performance and forward-looking guidance. He argues that GE is “well on track to hit Industrial free cash flow of $6B-plus in 2022.”

General Electric receives a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 9 Buys and 6 Holds. The average analyst price target of $12.21 suggests upside potential of around 14% over the next 12 months.

General Electric scores a "Perfect 10" from TipRanks’ Smart Score tool, which implies that the stock is expected to outperform the market.

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Biogen shares were up by 5.5% on Jan. 29 after the pharma company announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had extended the review period by three months for its drug candidate for Alzheimer’s disease – aducanumab.

Biogen (BIIB) had submitted additional clinical data and analyses in response to an information request from the FDA as part of the ongoing review of the drug. The FDA considered this additional information as a “Major Amendment” that would require more time to review.

Michel Vounatsos, CEO at Biogen, said, “We are committed to working with the FDA as it completes its review of the aducanumab application. We want to thank the FDA for its continued diligence during the review.”

The company had submitted the drug application for aducanumab to the FDA in July of last year and the FDA granted it a “Priority Review” in August. (See Biogen stock analysis on TipRanks)

Analyst reactions to this announcement were mixed. On Jan. 29, Stifel Nicolaus analyst Paul Matteis upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and raised the price target from $258 to $358.

Meanwhile, Piper Sandler analyst Christopher Raymond reiterated a Hold rating on the stock and kept the price target at $265 on Jan. 29.

Raymond said about the extended review period that it was “unclear if this is bullish or bearish” or whether the FDA is “waiting for new permanent leadership as cover before making such a controversial approval/rejection decision.” He added that the “outcome remains unanalyzable.”

The rest of the Street is in line with Raymond’s outlook with a Hold consensus rating. That’s based on 10 analysts recommending a Buy, 10 analysts suggesting a Hold, and 5 analysts recommending a Sell. The average analyst price target of $296.30 implies a 4.8% upside potential to current levels. Shares have risen by 16.1% in the past month.

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Wells Fargo's CEO, Charles Scharf, saw a decline in his annual pay in 2020. According to a company filing dated Jan. 26, the Board of Directors approved an annual salary of $20.3 million for 2020, compared to a salary of $23 million in 2019. This reflects a decline of around 12% year-on-year. The company filing cites its weak 4Q results as one of the reasons for the lower compensation.

Wells Fargo (WFC) CEO Scharf's annual compensation for 2020 included a base salary of $2.5 million, annual incentive compensation of $4.4 million payable in cash and long-term incentive compensation of $13.5 million. The long-term incentive amount will be split between performance shares and restricted share rights.

A restricted share right is the right to receive shares of Wells Fargo at a future date, provided certain vesting requirements for the shares and other conditions are satisfied.

Earlier this month, the banking giant reported 4Q revenues of $17.9 billion, representing a drop of 10.8% year-on-year. Revenues in 4Q also fell short of analysts’ expectations of $18.1 billion. The lower revenues highlighted declines across all of its business segments.

The company’s bottom-line result, however, marked a 6.7% improvement from the year-ago quarter’s earnings of $0.60 per share, reflecting lower noninterest expenses. (See Wells Fargo stock analysis on TipRanks)

On Jan. 25, Credit Suisse analyst Susan Roth Katzke upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold and raised the price target from $35 to $40. Katzke said in a research note about the company’s 4Q results, “To be sure, the path forward has its obstacles and revenue growth remains a challenge, but the combination of evident progress, incremental investment, excess capital and the inherent franchise opportunity reduce the downside risk and render the aspiration of a 15% ROTE [return on tangible equity] achievable, in time.”

The rest of the Street is cautiously optimistic about the stock with a Moderate Buy consensus rating. That’s based on 12 analysts recommending a Buy and 5 analysts suggesting a Hold. The average analyst price target of $36.00 implies 20.5% upside potential to current levels.

News Sentiment for Wells Fargo is Neutral based on 33 articles over the past seven days. While 75% of the articles have Bullish sentiment, compared to a sector average of 64%, 25% of the articles have Bearish Sentiment, compared to a sector average of 36%.

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Chevron Corporation reported weaker-than-expected results for the fourth quarter. In response, the energy giant’s shares closed 4.3% lower on Friday.

Chevron (CVX) posted an adjusted loss of $0.01 per share in 4Q, compared to analysts’ expectations of earnings per share of $0.08 and year-ago earnings of $1.49 per share. The company’s revenues of $25.3 billion missed the Street estimates of $26.2 billion and declined 30.5% year-over-year.

Chevron added 832 million barrels of net oil-equivalent proved reserves in 2020, which mainly came from the acquisition of Noble Energy and from assets in Kazakhstan. Chevron said, “These additions, which are subject to final reviews, are net of reductions associated with lower commodity prices, decisions to reduce capital funding for various projects and asset sales.”

Chevron’s CEO Mike Wirth noted, “2020 was a year like no other.” He added, “When market conditions deteriorated, we swiftly reduced capital spending by 35 percent from 2019 and also reduced operating costs, demonstrating our commitment to capital and cost discipline.” (See Chevron stock analysis on TipRanks)

Following the results, Raymond James analyst Justin Jenkins maintained a Buy rating and a price target of $112 (25.8% upside potential) on the stock, “based on a more secure balance sheet, solid leverage to a macro/oil price recovery and capital allocation that is already aligned with investor preferences.”

In a note to investors, Jenkins wrote, “Efficiency drivers are set to improve profitability into 2021, while a 'block and tackle' capital program over the next few years should further improve competitiveness, even without more help from the macro environment.”

Meanwhile, the rest of the Street has a cautiously optimistic outlook, with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 10 Buys and 4 Holds. The average analyst price target of $104.15 implies upside potential of about 22.2% to current levels. Shares were down about 19% in the previous year.

Furthermore, TipRanks' data shows that financial bloggers have a bullish call on the stock.

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Honeywell International reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter results. Despite the 4Q beat, its shares closed 3.7% lower on Friday.

Honeywell’s (HON) 4Q earnings of $2.07 per share remained flat year-over-year but topped the company’s guidance range of $1.97-$2.02 per share as well as analysts’ expectations of $2.00. Its revenues of $8.9 billion declined 6% year-over-year but came in above the Street’s forecasts of $8.4 billion.

Organic revenues decreased by 7% during the quarter, reflecting weakness across most of its business segments. However, organic sales for its Safety and Productivity Solutions segment jumped 27% in 4Q.

The company’s CEO Darius Adamczyk said, “Honeywell's strong balance sheet put us in a good position to weather the challenges of 2020 while investing for future growth. We invested in high-return capital expenditures, repurchased $3.7 billion of Honeywell shares, completed three acquisitions, made six new investments within Honeywell Ventures, and announced our 11th consecutive dividend increase.”

As for 2021, the company expects to generate revenues of $33.4 billion to $34.4 billion versus analysts’ expectations of $33.95 billion. It projects an organic revenue growth range of about 1% to 4% for 2021.

Furthermore, Honeywell forecasts adjusted earnings to be in the range of $7.60 to $8.00 per share, representing year-over-year growth of 7% to 13%. Analysts were looking for earnings of $7.87 per share. (See Honeywell stock analysis on TipRanks)

On Jan. 29, Cowen & Co. analyst Gautam Khanna maintained a Buy rating and a price target of $225 (15.2% upside potential) on the stock. In a note to investors, the analyst said, “Q4 adj EPS beat due to stronger sales in all segments, and margin impressed at Aero where aero aftermarket rose 26% vs. Q3.”

Overall, the Street has a cautiously optimistic outlook, with a Moderate Buy consensus rating based on 9 Buys and 8 Holds. The average analyst price target of $210.19 implies upside potential of about 7.6% to current levels. Shares gained 13.9% in the past year.

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