Summit Financial LLC Buys 2,138 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 59.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,716 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 2,138 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial LLC's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $6,265,813,000 after purchasing an additional 706,317 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $4,292,851,000 after acquiring an additional 109,618 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,706,250 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $449,580,000 after purchasing an additional 59,944 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $307.00 to $284.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. TD Cowen dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. UBS Group decreased their price target on General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $298.59.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD stock traded down $6.77 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $269.27. 1,416,683 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,316,021. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $259.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $276.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $72.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.43. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $239.87 and a 12 month high of $316.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last released 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 forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. This is an increase from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is currently 43.99%.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the business'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 transaction, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total value of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.52% 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.