Comerica Bank Cuts Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Comerica Bank decreased its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 2.3% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 76,494 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,812 shares during the period. Comerica Bank’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $21,609,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 1st quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 46.8% in the 1st quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 113 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction of $3,978,647.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 79,255 shares in the company, valued at $23,630,670.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other 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 transaction of $3,978,647.04. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 79,255 shares in the company, valued at $23,630,670.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Leon Rudy F. De sold 2,570 shares of the firm’s 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 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 55,069 shares of company stock valued at $16,295,101. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on GD shares. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $334.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Jefferies Financial Group raised General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $305.00 to $335.00 in a research report on Monday, April 29th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on General Dynamics in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $345.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Monday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $312.17.

General Dynamics Price Performance

NYSE GD traded down $6.96 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $291.75. The stock had a trading volume of 571,726 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,072,238. General Dynamics Co. has a 52-week low of $214.53 and a 52-week high of $302.75. The company has a market cap of $80.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $292.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $283.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.30 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $11.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.46 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 7.89%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.70 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 46.33%.

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.