General Electric Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:GE)

General Electric (NYSE:GE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors bought 110,475 call options on the stock. This represents an increase of approximately 357% compared to the average daily volume of 24,173 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Electric

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Studio Investment Management LLC raised its stake in General Electric by 97.5% during the 2nd quarter. Studio Investment Management LLC now owns 158 shares of the conglomerate’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. Toth Financial Advisory Corp purchased a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth $25,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of General Electric during the third quarter worth $27,000. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Electric during the second quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in General Electric in the 2nd quarter valued at $32,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GE shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of General Electric from $198.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their target price on General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. UBS Group raised their price target on General Electric from $223.00 to $230.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on shares of General Electric from $210.00 to $200.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.93.

General Electric Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE:GE opened at $181.78 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $198.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 59.60, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.14 and a quick ratio of 0.85. General Electric has a one year low of $84.58 and a one year high of $194.80. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $179.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $168.15.

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

General Electric Announces Dividend

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

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.