Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on General Electric (NYSE:GE)

General Electric (NYSE:GE) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Stock traders purchased 110,475 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 357% compared to the average volume of 24,173 call options.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $185.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 28th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their price objective on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 14th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered General Electric from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.93.

General Electric Trading Up 2.9 %

Shares of NYSE GE opened at $181.78 on Thursday. General Electric has a twelve month low of $84.58 and a twelve month high of $194.80. The firm has a market cap of $198.98 billion, a PE ratio of 59.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.18. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $168.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 22nd. The conglomerate reported $1.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.13 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $9.84 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $9.02 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 16.07%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.82 earnings per share. Analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. General Electric’s payout ratio is 36.72%.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GE. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of General Electric by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 133,618 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $17,054,000 after buying an additional 2,055 shares during the last quarter. RFG Advisory LLC grew its holdings in General Electric by 35.9% in the first quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 2,848 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $500,000 after purchasing an additional 753 shares during the last quarter. Cooper Financial Group acquired a new position in shares of General Electric during the first quarter worth $235,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 2,205 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $387,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 65,877 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $11,563,000 after purchasing an additional 973 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

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.