Mystic Asset Management Inc. Grows Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Mystic Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 39.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,128 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,854 shares during the quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,669,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GD. Leelyn Smith LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 16,227 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,276,000 after buying an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Edgemoor Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 56,964 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $15,009,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 9,518 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,508,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 18.0% in the fourth quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 39,624 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $10,441,000 after acquiring an additional 6,058 shares during the period. Finally, SlateStone Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. SlateStone Wealth LLC now owns 4,272 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,126,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. William Blair cut shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. TD Cowen decreased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, UBS Group cut their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.71.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $265.33 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a fifty day moving average of $258.04 and a 200-day moving average of $278.54. General Dynamics Co. has a 52-week low of $239.87 and a 52-week 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.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. Equities research analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 43.99%.

General Dynamics declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

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

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.