Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires 1,596 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 42.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,326 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,596 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in 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 worth $4,292,851,000 after purchasing an additional 109,618 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings 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 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 General Dynamics by 2.5% during the third 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 638,342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake in General Dynamics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,493,030,000 after acquiring an additional 24,464 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GD shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded General Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $283.00 to $245.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $283.00 price objective (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on General Dynamics from $295.00 to $279.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded General Dynamics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $304.53.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.7 %

General Dynamics stock traded down $1.97 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $266.86. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,543,957 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,419,689. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $247.36 and a 12 month high of $316.90. The company has a market capitalization of $73.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.32. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $272.86 and its 200 day simple moving average is $288.19.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 7.90%. The business had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.81 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is 43.26%.

General Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company's management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at $5,701,349.36. This represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

General Dynamics 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.