Grove Bank & Trust Grows Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Grove Bank & Trust increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 44.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 511 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. AE Wealth Management LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 1.8% during the second quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,225 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,516,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 10.7% during the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 1,293 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $375,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 3,139.0% during the second quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,911 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,852 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2,189.3% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 374,207 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $108,572,000 after buying an additional 357,861 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 79.9% in the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,359 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $705,000 after buying an additional 1,048 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Susquehanna cut 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 report on Wednesday, January 8th. Baird R W lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. 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. Vertical Research lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.53.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the 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 sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of GD stock opened at $266.86 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.38 billion, a PE ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $272.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $288.21. 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 Co. has a twelve month low of $247.36 and a twelve month high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.48 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.65 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. General Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.04 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.13%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.26%.

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

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.