National Bank of Canada FI Reduces Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

National Bank of Canada FI cut its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 95,467 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 14,648 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $24,685,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Operose Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Rational Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the third quarter valued at $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other news, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total value of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 103,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,816,065.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total transaction of $14,182,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total transaction of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 103,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,816,065.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GD shares. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on General Dynamics from $325.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Argus upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $300.53.

General Dynamics Stock Up 1.1 %

GD stock opened at $291.37 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $282.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $264.06. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $202.35 and a twelve month high of $296.50. 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 stock has a market cap of $79.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.77, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.67.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $10.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 16.48%. General Dynamics’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.64 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given 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 yield of 1.95%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 46.33%.

General Dynamics Company 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.