Brighton Jones LLC Acquires 417 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,885 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 417 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $760,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GD. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,292,851,000 after buying an additional 109,618 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,307,612,000 after acquiring an additional 943,247 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in General Dynamics by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,366,124,000 after purchasing an additional 189,904 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,674,998,000 after purchasing an additional 638,342 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,493,030,000 after purchasing an additional 24,464 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of GD stock opened at $266.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $269.27 and a 200-day moving average of $287.64. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $257.26 and a one year high of $316.90. The company has a market cap of $73.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.65 billion. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.26%.

General Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $283.00 price objective (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays lowered their price objective on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on General Dynamics from $295.00 to $279.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, TD Cowen raised shares of General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $304.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

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.