3,915 Shares in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) Purchased by Applied Finance Capital Management LLC

Key Points

• Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired 3,915 shares of General Dynamics Corporation, valued at approximately $1,067,000, during the first quarter.
• CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 7,639 shares at an average price of $280.44, reducing her ownership by 0.98% to 769,607 shares.
• Analysts have varied ratings on General Dynamics, with prices targets ranging from $300.00 to $365.00, suggesting a consensus rating of "Hold."

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,915 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $1,067,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GD. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 34,578.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,244,600 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $339,253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241,011 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $279,582,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,774,381,000 after purchasing an additional 463,497 shares during the period. Voloridge Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 6,387.2% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 401,236 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $105,722,000 after purchasing an additional 395,051 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,290,344 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $339,856,000 after purchasing an additional 252,107 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GD shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of General Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $298.00 to $342.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $283.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. TD Cowen raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of General Dynamics from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $360.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $315.78.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:GD traded down $1.56 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $313.14. 328,468 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,484,804. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $288.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.97. General Dynamics Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $239.20 and a fifty-two week high of $322.50. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a market capitalization of $84.23 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.46.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.74 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $13.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.13 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 17.99%. General Dynamics's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is presently 40.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 43,860 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.28, for a total value of $13,696,600.80. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,875 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,452,165. The trade was a 52.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 178,821 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.13, for a total transaction of $50,629,589.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 769,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $217,898,829.91. This represents a 18.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 268,370 shares of company stock worth $78,408,011. 1.50% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

General Dynamics Company 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.