Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 1,243 General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,243 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $327,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GD. Financial Life Planners acquired a new stake in General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

General Dynamics stock opened at $271.82 on Monday. 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 Co. has a fifty-two week low of $239.87 and a fifty-two week high of $316.90. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $257.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $279.78. The company has a market capitalization of $73.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. On average, analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.21%. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 43.99%.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GD. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Baird R W cut shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 price target (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BTIG Research downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $297.71.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.