Bill Few Associates Inc. Decreases Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Bill Few Associates Inc. reduced its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,156 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 46 shares during the period. Bill Few Associates Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in General Dynamics by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,639,758 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,216,599,000 after buying an additional 293,316 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,782,612 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,351,041,000 after acquiring an additional 115,063 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,071,803 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $601,756,000 after acquiring an additional 47,915 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,680,666 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $474,927,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,606,289 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $466,049,000 after acquiring an additional 23,304 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.5 %

GD opened at $300.29 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $298.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $293.97. General Dynamics Co. has a 52 week low of $232.29 and a 52 week high of $309.97. The company has a market capitalization of $82.39 billion, a PE ratio of 24.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

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

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 46.33%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GD shares. Morgan Stanley raised shares of General Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $293.00 to $345.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $331.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $334.00 to $317.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, General Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $319.06.

Insider Activity

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

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.