GE Healthcare will join S&P 500 as soon as it begins trading

GE shares were unchanged in after-hours trading following the announcement Wednesday, while Vornado shares slipped about 0.4%.

GE announced plans to split the company into three separate entities in November 2021, with the creation of GE Healthcare the first step toward that goal. The split is expected to happen after the close of trading on Jan. 3, with GE investors receiving one share of GE Healthcare for every three shares of GE they own.

After spinning off the healthcare unit, GE executives expect to create another new company that combines the GE Renewable Energy, GE Power and GE Digital units in 2024. The remaining entity will be focused on aviation.

GE Healthcare had revenue of $13.4 billion in the first nine months of the year, down from $17.59 billion in the same period of 2021, but profit increased to $1.31 billion from $1.16 billion in the comparable year-ago period, according to figures GE released earlier this month. The new stock is expected to trade under the ticker symbol GEHC.

GE has fallen 14% in the past 12 months, as investors await the split. That is a better performance than a 20% decline in that time for the S&P 500, but worse than an 8.7% drop by the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -1.10%, which removed GE as a component in 2018 after 111 consecutive years as a member of the blue-chip index.