Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC Lowers Stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lowered its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 100,729 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 1,968 shares during the quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $26,541,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% during 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 buying an additional 706,317 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised 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 valued at $1,774,381,000 after buying an additional 463,497 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,688,672 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,496,939,000 after buying an additional 131,268 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,212,422 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,109,931,000 after purchasing an additional 33,962 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in General Dynamics by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,935,046 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $773,355,000 after purchasing an additional 145,978 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GD shares. Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $261.00 to $236.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $307.00 to $284.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $268.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given 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 $293.00.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GD opened at $276.77 on Friday. General Dynamics Co. has a 1 year low of $239.20 and a 1 year high of $316.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The company's 50-day moving average is $271.07 and its 200 day moving average is $268.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.49.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.23. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The company had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.88 earnings per share. General Dynamics's quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. This is a boost from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. General Dynamics's payout ratio is currently 41.61%.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. This represents a 37.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 1.50% of the stock is 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.

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