General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Shares Sold by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC lowered its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,778 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 73 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,049,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,292,851,000 after purchasing an additional 109,618 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 9.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,307,612,000 after buying an additional 943,247 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in General Dynamics by 2.5% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,366,124,000 after acquiring an additional 189,904 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in General Dynamics by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,674,998,000 after acquiring an additional 638,342 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,493,030,000 after acquiring an additional 24,464 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GD opened at $254.84 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $264.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $285.56. The company has a market cap of $70.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $247.01 and a one year high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its 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 return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.84 earnings per share 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.23%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.64%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $1,556,241.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at $5,701,349.36. The trade was a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GD. UBS Group lowered their price objective on General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Susquehanna lowered their price target on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $300.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Vertical Research downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $300.06.

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.