General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland Sells 27,562 Shares

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

General Dynamics Stock Down 1.5 %

GD opened at $260.21 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $257.92 and a 200 day moving average of $279.30. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $239.87 and a 12 month high of $316.90. The company has a market cap of $70.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 EPS 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%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization permits the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. This is an increase 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 (DPR) is presently 43.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Baird R W lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair lowered shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $297.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,265,813,000 after purchasing an additional 706,317 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,292,851,000 after buying an additional 109,618 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,307,612,000 after buying an additional 943,247 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position 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 buying an additional 189,904 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its position 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 valued at $1,774,381,000 after buying an additional 463,497 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.