General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Shares Bought by Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.

Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 4.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,199 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the quarter. General Dynamics comprises about 1.2% of Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,385 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,804,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 40.4% during the 1st quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,591 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after buying an additional 1,320 shares during the last quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 21,834 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,168,000 after buying an additional 215 shares during the last quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 33.8% during the 1st quarter. Avity Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,070 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Webster Bank N. A. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 5.7% during the 1st quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 15,462 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,368,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com lowered General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 25th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.24.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total transaction of $14,182,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,773,956.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total value of $14,182,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,977 shares in the company, valued at $218,773,956.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Leon Rudy F. De sold 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.00, for a total value of $740,160.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,518 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,589,184. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,486 shares of company stock worth $34,391,642 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Price Performance

NYSE:GD traded down $2.36 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $290.14. 2,259,932 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 860,268. General Dynamics Co. has a 52-week low of $210.65 and a 52-week high of $302.75. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $294.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $277.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $79.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.64.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.89 by ($0.01). The company 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.