General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Stock Holdings Lowered by Pictet Asset Management Holding SA

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA trimmed its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 48,990 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,251 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $12,908,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 199,731 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $52,627,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its stake in General Dynamics by 6,248.3% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 3,682 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $970,000 after purchasing an additional 3,624 shares in the last quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,949 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $514,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at about $671,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 11,139 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,935,000 after buying an additional 2,483 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In related news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,224. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total transaction of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares in the company, valued at $12,297,195.12. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of GD stock opened at $273.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $74.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $258.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $276.19. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $239.87 and a twelve month high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. As a group, research analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.19%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 43.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on GD. Baird R W downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Vertical Research downgraded General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $300.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.71.

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.