Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on General Dynamics (NYSE:GD)

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) was the target of unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Traders bought 3,476 call options on the company. This is an increase of approximately 36% compared to the average daily volume of 2,559 call options.

General Dynamics Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:GD opened at $284.97 on Friday. General Dynamics has a 12 month low of $202.35 and a 12 month high of $296.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $280.56 and a 200-day simple moving average of $261.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $78.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.71, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.68.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a $1.42 dividend. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 47.25%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GD. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 411.5% in the 3rd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 133 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 19,668 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,780,000 after purchasing an additional 1,112 shares during the last quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC now owns 5,960 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,317,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 84.6% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,854 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,956,000 after purchasing an additional 4,058 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Riverview Trust Co acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 29th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $285.63.

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.