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

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Thursday. Stock investors acquired 66,559 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 148% compared to the average daily volume of 26,887 call options.

General Electric Price Performance

Shares of GE traded up $1.73 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $147.35. 11,876,544 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,540,667. The company has a market capitalization of $161.09 billion, a PE ratio of 17.95, a PEG ratio of 1.83 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. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $154.76 and a 200-day simple moving average of $131.01. General Electric has a one year low of $93.47 and a one year high of $180.36.

General Electric (NYSE:GE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 23rd. The conglomerate reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $19.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.27 billion. General Electric had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 13.95%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Electric will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at General Electric

In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 22,055 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $144.87, for a total value of $3,195,107.85. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 56,284 shares in the company, valued at $8,153,863.08. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Michael J. Holston sold 13,601 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $135.55, for a total value of $1,843,615.55. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 48,339 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,552,351.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.66% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of General Electric

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in General Electric by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 88,444,222 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $11,288,136,000 after buying an additional 550,996 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in General Electric by 3.5% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 50,207,805 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $5,515,327,000 after buying an additional 1,717,793 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in General Electric by 122,242.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 13,438,063 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $878,644,000 after buying an additional 13,427,079 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in General Electric by 4.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,588,433 shares of the conglomerate's stock worth $1,170,551,000 after buying an additional 410,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in General Electric during the fourth quarter worth $1,193,159,000. 74.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GE has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on General Electric from $180.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Monday, March 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price target on General Electric from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of General Electric in a research report on Tuesday, March 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on General Electric from $200.00 to $165.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, TheStreet upgraded General Electric from a "c+" rating to a "b+" rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Electric has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $148.79.

About General Electric

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.