Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Purchases 3,701 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 61.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,719 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 3,701 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,561,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Park Avenue Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 21.8% in the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 10,372 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,733,000 after purchasing an additional 1,853 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 3,697 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Board of the Pension Protection Fund bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $237,000. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 9,806 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,584,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares during the period. Finally, Pines Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $944,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GD. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $330.00 to $315.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 price objective (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $331.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.53.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:GD opened at $264.92 on Wednesday. General Dynamics Co. has a 52-week low of $247.36 and a 52-week high of $316.90. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $275.30 and a 200 day moving average of $288.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.84 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.32.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.48 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.65 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 7.90%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.04 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.14%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.26%.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. This represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.