Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Purchases 234,435 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 299.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 312,768 shares of the aerospace company's stock after buying an additional 234,435 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned about 0.11% of General Dynamics worth $82,411,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MGO One Seven LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 7,825 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 495 shares during the period. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its stake in General Dynamics by 34.7% during the 4th quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 2,668 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $703,000 after acquiring an additional 688 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,290,344 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $339,856,000 after purchasing an additional 252,107 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 7,721 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $2,034,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canal Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 21,598 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $5,691,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,192 shares in the company, valued at $12,297,195.12. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

NYSE:GD traded down $0.84 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $271.10. The company had a trading volume of 349,981 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,358,119. General Dynamics Co. has a 1-year low of $239.20 and a 1-year high of $316.90. The firm has a market cap of $72.76 billion, a PE ratio of 19.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.43. The business's 50 day moving average price is $264.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $271.58. 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, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.92 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. General Dynamics's quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.88 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. This is a boost from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GD. Royal Bank of Canada reduced 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. Vertical Research cut General Dynamics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. William Blair cut General Dynamics from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. TD Cowen lowered their target price on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered their price objective on General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a "sell" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $293.83.

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.