By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – General Electric (NYSE:GE) stock gained 3.1% in premarket trading Wednesday after the company said it will buy back shares for up to $3 billion.
Repurchases will be made from time to time in the open market, the company said without specifying an expiration date for the exercise.
As of Tuesday, GE’s 1.14 billion shares carried a market cap of over $101 billion. At its last closing price of $88.15, a $3 billion allocation will fetch the company around 34 million shares or about 3% of its equity.
Notwithstanding the more than 22% erosion in the stock in the last year, GE has seen a turnaround in its fortunes while reducing debt and restructuring its business.
Last year, it merged its aircraft leasing unit GE Capital Aviation Services with AerCap for $30 billion while owning 46% of the merged entity.
In July 2021, it completed its reverse stock split of one-for-eight.
The company is currently undergoing a split of its businesses into three -- healthcare, energy, and aviation. It plans to spin off its healthcare business early next year and its renewable energy and power company in early 2024, leaving the remaining entity focused overwhelmingly on aviation. GE plans to keep around 20% in the healthcare business.