Bank of New Hampshire Grows Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Bank of New Hampshire raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,722 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Bank of New Hampshire’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,423,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,955,023,000 after buying an additional 133,061 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,615,185,000 after buying an additional 1,755,276 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,017,057 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $887,649,000 after purchasing an additional 17,061 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in General Dynamics by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,293,269 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $506,744,000 after purchasing an additional 275,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in General Dynamics by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,258,362 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $499,030,000 after buying an additional 97,789 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GD shares. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. StockNews.com downgraded General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $284.38.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

General Dynamics stock traded up $3.79 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $284.90. The company had a trading volume of 1,723,332 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,111,429. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $78.17 billion, a PE ratio of 23.71, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.68. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $202.35 and a one year high of $296.50. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $280.26 and a 200 day moving average of $261.22.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $10.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at approximately $39,502,023.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About General Dynamics

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.