Diversify Wealth Management LLC Grows Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 9.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,114 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 817 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,364,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GD. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in General Dynamics by 40,389.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,379,472 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $416,876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,376,065 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,307,612,000 after purchasing an additional 943,247 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 13.0% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,674,998,000 after buying an additional 638,342 shares during the period. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 117.0% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 858,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $259,469,000 after buying an additional 463,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings 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 worth $108,572,000 after buying an additional 357,861 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:GD opened at $266.86 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $272.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $288.21. General Dynamics Co. has a 1-year low of $247.36 and a 1-year high of $316.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by ($0.13). The company had revenue of $11.67 billion for 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.81 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.13%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.26%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,701,349.36. This represents a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Vertical Research lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $300.00 target price (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup raised their price target on General Dynamics from $331.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. 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 assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $304.53.

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.