Northern Trust Corp Has $686.69 Million Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,606,137 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 103,870 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp owned 0.95% of General Dynamics worth $686,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GD. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. TD Securities raised their price target on General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. BTIG Research lowered General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $307.00 to $284.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Baird R W cut shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.83.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $271.86 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $264.77 and a 200-day moving average of $271.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. General Dynamics Co. has a 1-year low of $239.20 and a 1-year high of $316.90. The company has a market cap of $72.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.43.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.92 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 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 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 41.61%.

Insider Activity

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total value of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,297,195.12. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.