Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 57 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 965 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 57 shares during the quarter. Paces Ferry Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 9.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,307,612,000 after buying an additional 943,247 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $197,238,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 13.0% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,674,998,000 after purchasing an additional 638,342 shares during the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its position in General Dynamics by 117.0% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 858,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $259,469,000 after purchasing an additional 463,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC increased its stake in General Dynamics by 43.1% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 942,485 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $284,818,000 after buying an additional 283,972 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GD shares. Citigroup cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, February 10th. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $315.00 to $300.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $283.00 price target (down previously from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $297.71.

General Dynamics Price Performance

General Dynamics stock opened at $263.30 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $258.50 and a 200-day moving average of $277.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $71.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. General Dynamics Co. has a 52 week low of $239.87 and a 52 week high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend yield of 2.28%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 43.99%.

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.