General Dynamics Corporation $GD is Newport Trust Company LLC’s 3rd Largest Position

Newport Trust Company LLC trimmed its position in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,959,027 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 458,486 shares during the period. General Dynamics makes up 10.8% of Newport Trust Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Newport Trust Company LLC owned about 0.05% of General Dynamics worth $4,760,028,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Louisbourg Investments Inc. purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $27,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 80.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 64.7% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 112 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 44 shares during the period. Finally, Harbor Asset Planning Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the second quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Dynamics news, VP David Paddock sold 20,360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $334.92, for a total value of $6,818,971.20. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 36,644 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,272,808.48. The trade was a 35.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on General Dynamics from $380.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $280.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $420.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Melius Research upgraded shares of General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.70.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.6%

NYSE:GD opened at $363.60 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.56, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a current ratio of 1.40 and a quick ratio of 0.87. General Dynamics Corporation has a one year low of $239.20 and a one year high of $369.70. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $346.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $333.05.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its earnings results on Friday, October 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.69 by $0.19. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.18% and a return on equity of 18.27%. The firm had revenue of $12.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.49 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.35 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 16th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 38.89%.

General Dynamics Profile

General Dynamics is a major American aerospace and defense contractor that designs, manufactures and supports a broad range of products and services for government and commercial customers worldwide. Headquartered in the United States (Reston, Virginia), the company supplies platforms and systems used by armed forces, civil authorities and private operators across multiple domains including air, land, sea and cyber.

Its principal activities span several operating businesses: a business aviation unit that develops and supports Gulfstream business jets; land systems that produce armored combat vehicles and related logistics and sustainment services; marine systems that design and construct submarines and surface ships for navies; and mission systems and information technology operations that provide command-and-control, communications, cybersecurity and systems-integration services.