General Electric board members buying stock

After a tough week in which General Electric (NYSE: GE) reported disappointing first-quarter results and pulled down not only its own price but the market as a whole, GE board members have been buying company stock.

Vice chairman Michael A. Neal paid $1,005,000 for 31,250 shares on Monday. Yesterday, director Ralph Larsen bought 15,000 shares for $478,500. Fellow director Robert Swieringa bought 1,000 shares at $31.96 per share.

Embattled CEO Jeffrey Immelt hasn’t reported any recent purchases. However, last month, he paid $2 million for 62,000 shares, at an average price of $33.

Immelt was targeted yesterday by former GE CEO Jack Welch, who said the current chief had a “credibility issue” after missing price estimates.

Welched backed off his statement today. “Nothing, nothing, nothing is as disgusting to me as some old CEO chirping away about how things aren’t as good under the new guy as they were under him,” Welch told CNBC.

In a BusinessWeek column published today, Welch said, “I want to set the record straight. Jeff is an outstanding CEO, and the GE financial model is as attractive as ever.”

At midday today, GE shares were trading between $32.05 and $32.40.

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