How to buy General Electric shares

General Electric Company is a specialty industrial machinery business with stocks listed in the US. General Electric shares (GE) are listed on the NYSE and all prices are listed in US Dollars. Here's how to invest if you're based in Australia.

How to buy shares in General Electric

1. Compare share trading platforms. To buy shares in a US company from Australia you'll need to find a trading platform that offers access to US stock markets. If you're just starting out, look for a platform with low brokerage and foreign exchange fees.
2. Open and fund your brokerage account. Complete an application with your personal and financial details, like your ID and tax file number. Fund your account with a bank transfer, credit card or debit card.
3. Search for General Electric. Find the share by name or ticker symbol: GE. Research its history to confirm it's a solid investment against your financial goals.
4. Purchase now or later. Buy today with a market order or use a limit order to delay your purchase until General Electric reaches your desired price. To spread out your risk, look into dollar-cost averaging, which smooths out buying at consistent intervals and amounts.
5. Decide on how many to buy. Weigh your budget against a diversified portfolio that can minimise risk through the market's ups and downs. You may be able to buy a fractional share of General Electric, depending on your broker.
6. Check in on your investment. Congratulations, you own a part of General Electric. Optimise your portfolio by tracking how your stock — and even the business — performs with an eye on the long term. You may be eligible for dividends and shareholder voting rights on directors and management that can affect your stock.

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General Electric share price

Use our graph to track the performance of GE stocks over time.

General Electric shares at a glance

• Key figures

Information last updated 2021-02-23.

52-week range	US$5.4578 - US$12.7
50-day moving average	US$11.3876
200-day moving average	US$8.8624
Target price	US$12.31
PE ratio	21.8576
Dividend yield	US$0.04 (0.32%)
Earnings per share (TTM)	US$0.576

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The value of your investments can fall as well as rise and you may get back less than you invested. Past performance is no indication of future results.

Is it a good time to buy General Electric stock?

The technical analysis gauge below displays real-time ratings for the timeframes you select. This is not a recommendation, however. It represents a technical analysis based on the most popular technical indicators: Moving Averages, Oscillators and Pivots. Finder might not concur and takes no responsibility.

Technical Analysis of General Electric Company by TradingView

Is General Electric under- or over-valued?

Valuing General Electric stock is incredibly difficult, and any metric has to be viewed as part of a bigger picture of General Electric's overall performance. However, analysts commonly use some key metrics to help gauge the value of a stock.

General Electric's P/E ratio

General Electric's current share price divided by its per-share earnings (EPS) over a 12-month period gives a "trailing price/earnings ratio" of roughly 22x. In other words, General Electric shares trade at around 22x recent earnings.

That's relatively low compared to, say, the trailing 12-month P/E ratio for the NASDAQ 100 at the end of 2019 (27.29). The low P/E ratio could mean that investors are pessimistic about the outlook for the shares or simply that they're under-valued.

General Electric's PEG ratio

General Electric's "price/earnings-to-growth ratio" can be calculated by dividing its P/E ratio by its growth – to give 9.576. A low ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer better value, while a higher ratio can be interpreted as meaning the shares offer worse value.

The PEG ratio provides a broader view than just the P/E ratio, as it gives more insight into General Electric's future profitability. By accounting for growth, it could also help you if you're comparing the share prices of multiple high-growth companies.

General Electric's EBITDA

General Electric's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) is US$5.7 billion (£4.1 billion).

The EBITDA is a measure of a General Electric's overall financial performance and is widely used to measure a its profitability.

General Electric financials

Revenue TTM	US$79.6 billion
Gross profit TTM	US$13.5 billion
Return on assets TTM	-0.04%
Return on equity TTM	16.95%
Profit margin	7.16%
Book value	4.055
Market capitalisation	US$110.4 billion

TTM: trailing 12 months

Shorting General Electric shares

There are currently 90.3 million General Electric shares held short by investors – that's known as General Electric's "short interest". This figure is 0.6% up from 89.7 million last month.

There are a few different ways that this level of interest in shorting General Electric shares can be evaluated.

General Electric's "short interest ratio" (SIR)

General Electric's "short interest ratio" (SIR) is the quantity of General Electric shares currently shorted divided by the average quantity of General Electric shares traded daily (recently around 83.6 million). General Electric's SIR currently stands at 1.08. In other words for every 100,000 General Electric shares traded daily on the market, roughly 1080 shares are currently held short.

However General Electric's short interest can also be evaluated against the total number of General Electric shares, or, against the total number of tradable General Electric shares (the shares that aren't held by "insiders" or major long-term shareholders – also known as the "float"). In this case General Electric's short interest could be expressed as 0.01% of the outstanding shares (for every 100,000 General Electric shares in existence, roughly 10 shares are currently held short) or 0.0104% of the tradable shares (for every 100,000 tradable General Electric shares, roughly 10 shares are currently held short).

Such a low SIR usually points to an optimistic outlook for the share price, with fewer people currently willing to bet against General Electric.

Find out more about how you can short General Electric stock.

General Electric's environmental, social and governance track record

Environmental, social and governance (known as ESG) criteria are a set of three factors used to measure the sustainability and social impact of companies like General Electric.

When it comes to ESG scores, lower is better, and lower scores are generally associated with lower risk for would-be investors.

General Electric's total ESG risk score

Total ESG risk: 48.86

Socially conscious investors use ESG scores to screen how an investment aligns with their worldview, and General Electric's overall score of 48.86 (as at 01/01/2019) is pretty weak – landing it in it in the 97th percentile of companies rated in the same sector.

ESG scores are increasingly used to estimate the level of risk a company like General Electric is exposed to within the areas of "environmental" (carbon footprint, resource use etc.), "social" (health and safety, human rights etc.), and "governance" (anti-corruption, tax transparency etc.).

General Electric's environmental score

Environmental score: 16.69/100

General Electric's environmental score of 16.69 puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that General Electric is a leader in its sector terms of its environmental impact, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

General Electric's social score

Social score: 22.75/100

General Electric's social score of 22.75 puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. This could suggest that General Electric is a leader in its sector when it comes to taking good care of its workforce and the communities it impacts.

General Electric's governance score

Governance score: 16.42/100

General Electric's governance score puts it squarely in the 6th percentile of companies rated in the same sector. That could suggest that General Electric is a leader in its sector when it comes to responsible management and strategy, and exposed to a lower level of risk.

General Electric's controversy score

Controversy score: 3/5

ESG scores also evaluate any incidences of controversy that a company has been involved in. General Electric scored a 3 out of 5 for controversy – a middle-of-the-table result reflecting that General Electric hasn't always managed to keep its nose clean.

Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) summary

General Electric Company was last rated for ESG on: 2019-01-01.

Total ESG score	48.86
Total ESG percentile	96.96
Environmental score	16.69
Environmental score percentile	6
Social score	22.75
Social score percentile	6
Governance score	16.42
Governance score percentile	6
Level of controversy	3

General Electric share dividends

Dividend payout ratio: 100% of net profits

Recently General Electric has paid out, on average, around 100% of net profits as dividends. That has enabled analysts to estimate a "forward annual dividend yield" of 0.33% of the current stock value. This means that over a year, based on recent payouts (which are sadly no guarantee of future payouts), General Electric shareholders could enjoy a 0.33% return on their shares, in the form of dividend payments. In General Electric's case, that would currently equate to about $0.04 per share.

General Electric's payout ratio would broadly be considered high, and as such this stock could appeal to those looking to generate an income. Bear in mind however that companies should normally also look to re-invest a decent amount of net profits to ensure future growth.

General Electric's most recent dividend payout was on 26 April 2021. The latest dividend was paid out to all shareholders who bought their shares by 5 March 2021 (the "ex-dividend date").

Have General Electric's shares ever split?

General Electric's shares were split on a 104:100 basis on 26 February 2019. So if you had owned 100 shares the day before before the split, the next day you'd have owned 104 shares. This wouldn't directly have changed the overall worth of your General Electric shares – just the quantity. However, indirectly, the new 3.8% lower share price could have impacted the market appetite for General Electric shares which in turn could have impacted General Electric's share price.

General Electric share price volatility

Over the last 12 months, General Electric's shares have ranged in value from as little as US$5.4578 up to US$12.7. A popular way to gauge a stock's volatility is its "beta".

Beta is a measure of a share's volatility in relation to the market. The market (NYSE average) beta is 1, while General Electric's is 1.0806. This would suggest that General Electric's shares are a little bit more volatile than the average for this exchange and represent, relatively-speaking, a slightly higher risk (but potentially also market-beating returns).

General Electric overview

General Electric Company operates as a high-tech industrial company in the United States, Europe, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Africa. It operates through Power, Renewable Energy, Aviation, and Healthcare segments. The Power segment offers technologies, solutions, and services related to energy production, including gas and steam turbines, boilers, generators, and air quality control systems. The Renewable Energy segment provides wind turbine platforms, and hardware and software; offshore wind turbines; solutions, products, and services to hydropower industry; blades for onshore and offshore wind turbines; and high voltage equipment. The Aviation segment provides jet engines for commercial and military airframes; maintenance, component repair, and overhaul services, as well as replacement parts; avionics systems, aviation electric power systems, and gear and transmission components; additive machines and materials; and additive engineering services. The Healthcare segment provides healthcare technologies in medical imaging, digital solutions, patient monitoring, and diagnostics; drug discovery; and performance enhancement solutions to hospitals, medical facilities, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and life science research markets. The company was founded in 1892 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

Frequently asked questions

• What percentage of General Electric is owned by insiders or institutions?

  Currently 0.244% of General Electric shares are held by insiders and 62.106% by institutions.

• When does the fiscal year end for General Electric?

  General Electric's fiscal year ends in December.

• Where is General Electric based?

  General Electric's address is: 5 Necco Street, Boston, MA, United States, 02210

• What is General Electric's ISIN number?

  General Electric's international securities identification number is: US3696041033

• What is General Electric's CUSIP number?

  General Electric's Committee on Uniform Securities Identification Procedures number is: 369604103