General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Shares Sold by Stanley Laman Group Ltd.

Stanley Laman Group Ltd. cut its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 880 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 87 shares during the quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $229,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 3rd quarter worth $27,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 411.5% in the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 133 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $325.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Susquehanna increased their price target on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.63.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.2 %

NYSE:GD traded down $0.49 on Friday, hitting $284.41. 1,239,528 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,114,716. The stock has a market cap of $78.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.68. General Dynamics Co. has a fifty-two week low of $202.35 and a fifty-two week high of $296.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $280.86 and a 200-day moving average of $261.71.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.85%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.64 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.00%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 46.33%.

About General Dynamics

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.