Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Has $3.12 Million Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 141.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,825 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,930 shares during the period. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $3,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GD. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,265,813,000 after purchasing an additional 706,317 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,774,381,000 after purchasing an additional 463,497 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in General Dynamics by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,688,672 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,496,939,000 after buying an additional 131,268 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its stake in General Dynamics by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,212,422 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,109,931,000 after buying an additional 33,962 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,606,137 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $686,691,000 after buying an additional 103,870 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $273.21 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. General Dynamics Co. has a 12-month low of $239.20 and a 12-month high of $316.90. The company has a market capitalization of $73.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $266.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $270.70.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.23. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The business had revenue of $12.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.92 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.20%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 41.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on General Dynamics from $261.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on General Dynamics from $307.00 to $284.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $292.88.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.