HF Advisory Group LLC Decreases Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

HF Advisory Group LLC decreased its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,587 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 161 shares during the quarter. General Dynamics accounts for about 1.3% of HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest position. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,970,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,423,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,955,023,000 after buying an additional 133,061 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,615,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,755,276 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,228,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $962,711,000 after acquiring an additional 259,855 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,017,057 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $887,649,000 after acquiring an additional 17,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,622,031 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $650,552,000 after acquiring an additional 282,436 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Susquehanna upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 3rd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $283.80.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares in the company, valued at $39,502,023.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares in the company, valued at $39,502,023.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:GD traded up $2.17 on Thursday, reaching $286.63. The stock had a trading volume of 84,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,061,089. The company has a 50-day moving average of $278.37 and a 200 day moving average of $258.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $78.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68. General Dynamics Co. has a 12-month low of $202.35 and a 12-month high of $296.50.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.68 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.39 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.58 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.25%.

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.