Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. Increases Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 2.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 112,503 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,714 shares during the period. General Dynamics makes up about 0.9% of Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc.'s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $29,643,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GD. Wealth Alliance lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 17.4% during the second quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 1,206 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $350,000 after purchasing an additional 179 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P. acquired a new stake in General Dynamics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $447,000. XTX Topco Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the second quarter worth $1,370,000. Ieq Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 17.0% during the second quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 26,287 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $7,627,000 after purchasing an additional 3,820 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its position in General Dynamics by 2.2% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 41,594 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $12,068,000 after purchasing an additional 892 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GD shares. TD Cowen upgraded General Dynamics to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price target on General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $300.00 price objective (down previously from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered shares of General Dynamics from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and cut their target price for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a report on Thursday, December 19th. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $304.53.

General Dynamics Price Performance

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

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

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

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

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were 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 owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at $5,701,349.36. This trade represents a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.