Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases Shares of 748,559 General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 748,559 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $197,238,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.27% of General Dynamics as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. 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 acquiring an additional 109,618 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in General Dynamics by 9.4% during 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. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in 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 worth $2,366,124,000 after acquiring an additional 189,904 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in General Dynamics by 13.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in General Dynamics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,493,030,000 after acquiring an additional 24,464 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on GD. Wolfe Research lowered General Dynamics from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. BTIG Research lowered General Dynamics from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. TD Cowen decreased their price objective on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $297.71.

General Dynamics Stock Up 2.7 %

Shares of GD traded up $7.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $271.82. The stock had a trading volume of 1,978,836 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,795,760. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $257.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $279.88. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $239.87 and a twelve month high of $316.90. The firm has a market cap of $73.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 EPS 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, analysts anticipate 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 repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This is a boost from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. General Dynamics's payout ratio is currently 41.64%.

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.