Argentarii LLC Purchases Shares of 2,004 General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Argentarii LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,004 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $528,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Dynamics Price Performance

General Dynamics stock opened at $271.82 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a market capitalization of $73.49 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $239.87 and a one year high of $316.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $257.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $279.88.

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

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.21%. This is a positive change 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 41.64%.

General Dynamics announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GD shares. Wolfe Research downgraded General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. BTIG Research downgraded General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays decreased their price target on General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Vertical Research downgraded General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.71.

Insider Activity

In other 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 value of $459,201.28. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Company 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.