First Horizon Advisors Inc. Buys 46 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,701 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 46 shares during the quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,766,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,307,612,000 after acquiring an additional 943,247 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 13.0% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 117.0% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 858,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $259,469,000 after purchasing an additional 463,000 shares during the last quarter. Barclays PLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 43.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 942,485 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $284,818,000 after purchasing an additional 283,972 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,366,124,000 after acquiring an additional 189,904 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $243.02 on Monday. General Dynamics Co. has a fifty-two week low of $239.87 and a fifty-two week high of $316.90. 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 company has a market capitalization of $65.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $259.68 and a 200 day moving average of $282.49.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share 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 anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 41.64%.

General Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock 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 purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GD shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $279.00 to $276.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. William Blair downgraded General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays reduced 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. TD Cowen dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $298.59.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $459,201.28. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

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.