Hopwood Financial Services Inc. Purchases New Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Hopwood Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 370 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $97,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. United Bank increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. United Bank now owns 5,776 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,746,000 after acquiring an additional 224 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics during the 3rd quarter valued at $115,000. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in General Dynamics by 19.6% during the 3rd quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 3,258 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $985,000 after buying an additional 534 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in General Dynamics by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 588,619 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $177,881,000 after buying an additional 5,069 shares during the period. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in General Dynamics by 16.2% during the 3rd quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,895 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after buying an additional 684 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, 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 company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GD shares. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. BTIG Research cut shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $283.00 price target (down previously from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. TD Cowen dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $307.00 to $284.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.71.

General Dynamics Stock Down 1.5 %

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $260.21 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company has a 50-day moving average of $257.92 and a 200 day moving average of $279.30. The firm has a market cap of $70.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. General Dynamics Co. has a 1 year low of $239.87 and a 1 year high of $316.90.

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

General Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.99%.

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.