Southland Equity Partners LLC Buys 59 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Southland Equity Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,103 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the quarter. Southland Equity Partners LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $291,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,292,851,000 after purchasing an additional 109,618 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,307,612,000 after purchasing an additional 943,247 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,366,124,000 after purchasing an additional 189,904 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,674,998,000 after purchasing an additional 638,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,493,030,000 after purchasing an additional 24,464 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Susquehanna cut their price target on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $315.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. Barclays cut their price target on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price target on General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Seaport Res Ptn cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Vertical Research cut General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.88.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. The trade was a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

General Dynamics stock opened at $268.07 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $270.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $287.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. General Dynamics Co. has a 12-month low of $251.62 and a 12-month high of $316.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The business had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.04 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 43.26%.

General Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.