Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. reduced its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 14.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,718 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 477 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $716,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in General Dynamics by 17.5% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 297,577 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $89,928,000 after purchasing an additional 44,387 shares during the last quarter. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the third quarter valued at $76,000. Consolidated Planning Corp increased its stake in General Dynamics by 1.3% in the third quarter. Consolidated Planning Corp now owns 20,606 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,227,000 after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Portside Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in General Dynamics by 7.6% in the third quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 5,908 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,785,000 after purchasing an additional 419 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Dynamics Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of GD opened at $271.82 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $73.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.93, a P/E/G 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $257.80 and a 200 day moving average price of $279.99.

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

General Dynamics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. 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. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.64%.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the transaction, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on GD shares. UBS Group dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Barclays dropped their price target on General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Citigroup dropped their price target on General Dynamics from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and set a $283.00 price target (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.71.

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.