Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Reduces Stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lowered its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 23,670 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 343 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $6,146,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,830 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,812,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 10,377 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,695,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 6.5% during the third quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 687 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $152,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.3% during the third quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,846 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $408,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resonant Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,304 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $339,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $284.41 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $280.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $261.88. The company has a market cap of $78.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68. General Dynamics Co. has a fifty-two week low of $202.35 and a fifty-two week high of $296.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.44.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $10.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.85%. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 46.33%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GD has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, General Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $293.43.

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.