Aurora Private Wealth Inc. Purchases Shares of 849 General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Aurora Private Wealth Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 849 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 99.3% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 29,045 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,542,000 after acquiring an additional 14,468 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in General Dynamics during the third quarter valued at $16,077,000. Moreno Evelyn V increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 17.1% in the third quarter. Moreno Evelyn V now owns 27,310 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,035,000 after buying an additional 3,991 shares in the last quarter. Clough Capital Partners L P acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the third quarter worth about $26,868,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 57.7% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 326,121 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $72,063,000 after acquiring an additional 119,264 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of GD traded down $2.67 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $285.20. The stock had a trading volume of 446,324 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,067,529. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $277.33 and its 200 day simple moving average is $257.78. General Dynamics Co. has a 12-month low of $202.35 and a 12-month high of $296.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.44. The firm has a market cap of $78.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.68.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.68 by ($0.04). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.39 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.58 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,502,023.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,502,023.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GD shares. Susquehanna upped their price target on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.79.

General Dynamics Profile

General Dynamics Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment produces and sells business jets; and offers aircraft maintenance and repair, management, aircraft-on-ground support and completion, charter, staffing, and fixed-base operator services.