General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Shares Sold by Courier Capital LLC

Courier Capital LLC cut its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,471 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,105 shares during the period. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,705,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 67.6% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,546 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,583,000 after buying an additional 3,448 shares during the period. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 36.4% in the third quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,533,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. boosted its position in General Dynamics by 10.0% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 37,074 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $11,204,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363 shares in the last quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 32.6% during the 3rd quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 10,368 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,133,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 17.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 297,577 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $89,928,000 after purchasing an additional 44,387 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their target price on General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $330.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wolfe Research lowered General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $331.00 to $354.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $308.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In related news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at $5,701,349.36. The trade was a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:GD traded up $4.35 on Monday, reaching $263.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,359,869 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,481,726. The firm has a market cap of $72.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. General Dynamics Co. has a 12-month low of $247.36 and a 12-month high of $316.90. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $276.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $288.99.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The company had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.04 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.26%.

General Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.