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

General Electric (NYSE:GE) was the recipient of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Traders bought 66,559 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 148% compared to the typical daily volume of 26,887 call options.

General Electric Stock Performance

Shares of GE opened at $156.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $155.61 and its 200-day moving average is $131.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $170.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.85. General Electric has a 12-month low of $93.47 and a 12-month high of $180.36.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $19.42 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 13.95% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The business’s revenue was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Electric will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 25th. Stockholders of record on Monday, April 15th will be paid a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 12th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.72%. This is a boost from General Electric’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.08. General Electric’s payout ratio is currently 3.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Electric

In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other General Electric news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total transaction of $3,195,107.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total transaction of $1,843,615.55. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.66% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Electric

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GE. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 12.5% in the fourth quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 261,187 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $33,335,000 after buying an additional 28,985 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 10.9% in the third quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 109,332 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $12,087,000 after buying an additional 10,722 shares during the period. Hoey Investments Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Electric by 51,152.3% in the third quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 22,551 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $2,493,000 after buying an additional 22,507 shares during the period. Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth about $1,846,000. Finally, Cambridge Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Electric in the third quarter worth about $6,285,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on GE shares. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $160.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $180.00 to $148.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Vertical Research began coverage on shares of General Electric in a report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $160.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of General Electric from $181.00 to $175.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $148.79.

General Electric Company Profile

General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company in Europe, China, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It 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.