Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of General Electric Call Options (NYSE:GE)

General Electric (NYSE:GE) saw some unusual options trading activity on Tuesday. Traders bought 110,475 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 357% compared to the typical daily volume of 24,173 call options.

General Electric Stock Down 9.1 %

GE opened at $176.59 on Wednesday. General Electric has a twelve month low of $84.58 and a twelve month high of $194.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 1.14 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.95. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $179.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.05. The company has a market cap of $193.30 billion, a PE ratio of 57.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.18.

General Electric (NYSE:GE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.20 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by $0.21. The company had revenue of $9.09 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.44 billion. General Electric had a net margin of 7.66% and a return on equity of 16.07%. General Electric’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that General Electric will post 4.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Electric Announces Dividend

The company 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.63%. General Electric’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.72%.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Electric by 21,069.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 3,173,142 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $598,391,000 after buying an additional 3,158,153 shares during the last quarter. McAdam LLC boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. McAdam LLC now owns 2,542 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 74,638 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $14,075,000 after purchasing an additional 12,713 shares during the period. Marietta Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Electric during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $222,000. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Electric by 23.7% during the 3rd quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 5,918 shares of the conglomerate’s stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,134 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 74.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of General Electric from $192.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $201.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 14th. Melius Research increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $194.00 to $202.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on shares of General Electric from $212.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fourteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Electric has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $198.53.

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.