First Financial Bankshares Inc Sells 39 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

First Financial Bankshares Inc trimmed its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 3.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,173 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 39 shares during the quarter. First Financial Bankshares Inc’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $354,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in General Dynamics by 4.0% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,639,758 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,216,599,000 after purchasing an additional 293,316 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 2.5% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,782,612 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,351,041,000 after purchasing an additional 115,063 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 2.4% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,071,803 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $601,756,000 after purchasing an additional 47,915 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its position in General Dynamics by 1.4% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,680,666 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,927,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in General Dynamics by 1.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,606,289 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $466,049,000 after acquiring an additional 23,304 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

NYSE GD opened at $302.52 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $300.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $294.74. General Dynamics Co. has a 12-month low of $236.58 and a 12-month high of $313.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $83.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.60, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.65 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 7.89%. General Dynamics’s revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.27 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.88%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 44.31%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GD shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $320.00 to $314.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $317.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of General Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $293.00 to $345.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, Director Peter A. Wall sold 1,320 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.05, for a total transaction of $406,626.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,515.60. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.52% 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.