LS Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

LS Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 1.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,201 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the quarter. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $3,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Columbia Asset Management grew its stake in General Dynamics by 2.5% in the first quarter. Columbia Asset Management now owns 3,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $818,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. Beacon Financial Group grew its stake in General Dynamics by 4.0% in the first quarter. Beacon Financial Group now owns 7,186 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,959,000 after purchasing an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC grew its stake in General Dynamics by 26.9% in the first quarter. Secure Asset Management LLC now owns 7,764 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,648 shares in the last quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC grew its stake in General Dynamics by 1.5% in the first quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC now owns 5,966 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,572,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nixon Peabody Trust Co. grew its stake in General Dynamics by 1.4% in the first quarter. Nixon Peabody Trust Co. now owns 56,859 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $15,499,000 after purchasing an additional 762 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Argus set a $295.00 target price on General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. BTIG Research cut General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $261.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. William Blair cut General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Dynamics news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total transaction of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. This trade represents a 37.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.3%

General Dynamics stock opened at $275.12 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.49. General Dynamics Co. has a 1-year low of $239.20 and a 1-year high of $316.90. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $272.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $266.82.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $12.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.92 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.88 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.18%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.61%.

About General Dynamics

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.