Vanguard Group Inc. Buys 31,091 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 0.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,806,865 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 31,091 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 7.95% of General Dynamics worth $6,160,221,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 1st quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 46.8% in the 1st quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 113 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Wednesday. Susquehanna increased their target price on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Argus upped their price target on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $307.94.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total transaction of $14,182,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 768,977 shares in the company, valued at $218,773,956.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, VP William A. Moss sold 21,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $294.85, for a total transaction of $6,206,592.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 16,624 shares in the company, valued at $4,901,586.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total value of $14,182,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 768,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,773,956.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,486 shares of company stock worth $34,391,642 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Price Performance

NYSE:GD traded down $5.05 on Friday, reaching $288.22. 973,642 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,089,130. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $293.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $281.12. The firm has a market cap of $79.08 billion, a PE ratio of 23.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.60. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $213.47 and a 12 month high of $302.75.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 16.48%. General Dynamics’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.64 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.54 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.97%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.33%.

General Dynamics Company 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.