Principle Wealth Partners LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Principle Wealth Partners LLC decreased its holdings in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 1.2% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 27,693 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 324 shares during the quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $8,077,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 11.5% in the first quarter. Global Wealth Management Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 16,522 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,504,000 after acquiring an additional 1,704 shares during the period. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 1.5% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 63,228 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $16,741,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares in the last quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 18.1% in the first quarter. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc now owns 31,620 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,619,000 after purchasing an additional 4,836 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 31.3% in the first quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 5,598 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,526,000 after purchasing an additional 1,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 10.4% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 463,917 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $126,454,000 after purchasing an additional 43,885 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GD shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $280.00 to $293.00 and gave the stock a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Citigroup raised their price target on General Dynamics from $348.00 to $368.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $327.44.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.7%

General Dynamics stock opened at $338.19 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. General Dynamics Corporation has a one year low of $239.20 and a one year high of $347.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.97 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s fifty day moving average is $328.25 and its 200 day moving average is $300.41.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.74 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.27. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 8.13%.The company had revenue of $13.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.26 earnings per share. General Dynamics’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 10th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.27%.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In related news, VP William A. Moss sold 17,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $316.40, for a total transaction of $5,600,280.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 16,627 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,260,782.80. This trade represents a 51.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 8,150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, August 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.18, for a total value of $2,617,617.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 22,818 shares in the company, valued at $7,328,685.24. This trade represents a 26.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 275,020 shares of company stock valued at $86,414,503 over the last three months. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.