By 
General Electric Co. disclosed Friday that it sold off more of the Baker Hughes Co. shares it owned, and likely raised nearly $1 billion.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the industrial conglomerate said it owned 267,745,937 shares of Baker Hughes
BKR,
-1.29%,
representing 25.7% of the oilfield products and services company’s shares outstanding.
That compares with a filing on Jan. 25 that showed GE owned 311,432,660 Baker Hughes shares, or a 30.1% stake.
Based on a volume-weighted average closing price (VWAP) of Baker Hughes stock from Jan. 25 through April 29 of $22.11, according to a MarketWatch calculation of FactSet data, the 43,685,723 Baker Hughes shares sold would have raised about $965.92 million.
GE’s stock
GE,
-0.38%
slipped 0.8% in premarket trading Friday. It has lost 2.7% over the past three days, since GE reported first-quarter results before Tuesday’s open.
Baker Hughes shares shed 1.2% ahead of Friday’s open.
On July 29, 2020, GE said it was launching a program to “fully monetize” its Baker Hughes stake over the next three years.
Since July 29, when GE owned 377,427,884 shares, or a 36.5% stake in Baker Hughes, GE has now sold off 109,680,947 shares. Based on the Baker Hughes stock’s VWAP since July 29 of $18.95, the value of the shares sold would be about $2.08 billion.
The Baker Hughes stock GE still owns is worth about $5.50 billion at Thursday’s closing price of $20.54.
GE’s stock has rallied 22.3% year to date through Thursday, while Baker Hughes shares have slipped 1.5% and the S&P 500 index
SPX,
-0.56%
has gained 12.1%.
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