CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co Reduces Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co decreased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 1.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 62,444 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,157 shares during the quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $17,640,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the first quarter worth $25,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in General Dynamics in the first quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in General Dynamics by 46.8% during the first quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 113 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GD. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Argus raised their price objective on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $324.00 to $320.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $310.67.

General Dynamics Price Performance

GD stock traded up $8.78 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $293.45. The company had a trading volume of 972,926 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,066,843. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $80.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.60. General Dynamics Co. has a 12-month low of $214.53 and a 12-month high of $302.75. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $292.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $281.84.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $11.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.46 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 16.48%. General Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.70 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.54 earnings per share for the current 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 $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.33%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Kimberly A. Kuryea sold 13,344 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.16, for a total value of $3,978,647.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 79,255 shares in the company, valued at $23,630,670.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Kimberly A. Kuryea sold 13,344 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.16, for a total transaction of $3,978,647.04. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 79,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,630,670.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Leon Rudy F. De sold 2,570 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 5,518 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,589,184. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 118,486 shares of company stock valued at $34,391,642. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.