Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. Trims Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. cut its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,319 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 50 shares during the quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $673,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,639,758 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,216,599,000 after purchasing an additional 293,316 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.5% in the 1st 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 period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,164,857 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,081,488,000 after purchasing an additional 147,800 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,282,757 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $592,764,000 after purchasing an additional 24,395 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,680,666 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,927,000 after purchasing an additional 23,262 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $334.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $345.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Monday, July 29th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on General Dynamics in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $345.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $315.06.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of GD opened at $303.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $83.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.61. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $293.51 and a 200-day moving average of $290.56. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. General Dynamics Co. has a 52 week low of $214.53 and a 52 week high of $309.97.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.30 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $11.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.46 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 7.89%. General Dynamics’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.70 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.52 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be given a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 11th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.87%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 46.33%.

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.