Trexquant Investment LP Buys Shares of 75,038 General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Trexquant Investment LP purchased a new position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 75,038 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $19,772,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. United Bank lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 4.0% during the third quarter. United Bank now owns 5,776 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,746,000 after purchasing an additional 224 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in General Dynamics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 38,004 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $11,485,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY lifted its position in General Dynamics by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cobblestone Capital Advisors LLC NY now owns 1,012 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the third quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new position in General Dynamics during the third quarter valued at approximately $94,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GD. Susquehanna dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $300.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BTIG Research cut shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.71.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

NYSE GD opened at $272.71 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $258.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $276.41. General Dynamics Co. has a fifty-two week low of $239.87 and a fifty-two week high of $316.90. The company has a market cap of $73.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.99, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. Sell-side analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 43.99%.

General Dynamics declared that its board has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total value of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,297,195.12. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

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.