Eagle Bay Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Eagle Bay Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 20.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 761 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 197 shares during the period. Eagle Bay Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $200,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 67.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,546 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,583,000 after buying an additional 3,448 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 36.4% in the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,533,000 after buying an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 37,074 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $11,204,000 after buying an additional 3,363 shares in the last quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 32.6% in the 3rd quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 10,368 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,133,000 after buying an additional 2,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 297,577 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $89,928,000 after purchasing an additional 44,387 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price 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. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. TD Cowen raised shares of General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wolfe Research cut shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $295.00 to $279.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $308.18.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,701,349.36. This trade represents a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

General Dynamics Price Performance

GD stock traded up $3.64 on Monday, hitting $263.02. 358,458 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,344,860. General Dynamics Co. has a 1-year low of $247.36 and a 1-year high of $316.90. The stock has a market cap of $72.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $276.54 and a 200-day moving average of $288.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.48 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.65 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.04 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.16%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.26%.

General Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership 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.