Vest Financial LLC Grows Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 5.4% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 149,874 shares of the aerospace company's stock after acquiring an additional 7,663 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC owned 0.05% of General Dynamics worth $43,484,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Eudaimonia Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $240,000. Gladstone Capital Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $3,869,000. SWP Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $227,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $28,107,000. Finally, Evercore Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,355 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,391,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GD. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Tuesday, July 2nd. BTIG Research started coverage on General Dynamics in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a "buy" rating and a $345.00 price target for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $334.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $315.06.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.4 %

GD traded up $1.13 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $300.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 875,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,066,622. The firm has a market cap of $82.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.35, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 0.61. General Dynamics Co. has a 52-week low of $214.53 and a 52-week high of $306.51. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $291.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $289.57.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.30 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $11.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.46 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 7.89%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.70 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.52 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Friday, October 11th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 11th. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.33%.

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.