NorthRock Partners LLC Purchases 904 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

NorthRock Partners LLC grew its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 62.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,350 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $619,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GD. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $279,582,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $197,238,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,265,813,000 after buying an additional 706,317 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,774,381,000 after buying an additional 463,497 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 942,485 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $284,818,000 after buying an additional 283,972 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. TD Securities increased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $268.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on General Dynamics from $261.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $293.00.

General Dynamics Stock Up 3.0%

General Dynamics stock opened at $278.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $74.80 billion, a PE ratio of 20.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.49. General Dynamics Co. has a fifty-two week low of $239.20 and a fifty-two week high of $316.90. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $269.38 and its 200 day simple moving average is $269.18.

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 the consensus estimate 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%. General Dynamics’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.88 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.15%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.61%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.