Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC Acquires New Shares in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,636 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $694,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $197,238,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $6,265,813,000 after buying an additional 706,317 shares in the last quarter. Barclays PLC increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 43.1% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 942,485 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $284,818,000 after buying an additional 283,972 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in General Dynamics by 10.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,428,644 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $639,923,000 after acquiring an additional 232,383 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 125.3% in the fourth quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 351,429 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $92,598,000 after acquiring an additional 195,476 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. BTIG Research lowered General Dynamics from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. William Blair downgraded General Dynamics from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Baird R W cut General Dynamics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $294.47.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of GD stock traded down $0.93 during trading on Friday, hitting $275.70. The company had a trading volume of 1,721,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,357,567. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $261.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.30. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $239.20 and a one year 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 firm has a market capitalization of $73.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.43.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. Equities analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is a positive change from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.99%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total transaction of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.