General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Stake Increased by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 14.7% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 171,891 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 22,017 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned about 0.06% of General Dynamics worth $51,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GD. Pure Portfolios Holdings LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the third quarter worth $279,000. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 5.1% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 463,447 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $140,054,000 after purchasing an additional 22,361 shares during the period. NovaPoint Capital LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 1.0% in the third quarter. NovaPoint Capital LLC now owns 13,340 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,031,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the period. Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 3.1% in the third quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,871 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,983,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 75.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,450 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,052 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $334.00 to $317.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of General Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $293.00 to $345.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $333.00 to $352.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $320.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, Director Peter A. Wall sold 1,320 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.05, for a total transaction of $406,626.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 3,592 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,106,515.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Price Performance

General Dynamics stock traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $308.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,316,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,090,915. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $299.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.29. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $232.29 and a 12 month high of $310.58. The company has a market capitalization of $84.64 billion, a PE ratio of 25.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.30 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $11.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.46 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 7.89%. General Dynamics’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.70 EPS. Analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.38 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 11th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.84%. General Dynamics’s 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.