Modern Wealth Management LLC Acquires 491 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Modern Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 22.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,684 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 491 shares during the period. Modern Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,265,813,000 after buying an additional 706,317 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.8% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,292,851,000 after purchasing an additional 109,618 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,307,612,000 after purchasing an additional 943,247 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in 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 worth $1,674,998,000 after purchasing an additional 638,342 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.5% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,493,030,000 after purchasing an additional 24,464 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on the company. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price target on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.71.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.8 %

GD stock opened at $269.60 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $72.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $239.87 and a twelve month high of $316.90. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $258.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $277.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. Analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.23%. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.99%.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were 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 represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.