Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Makes New $365,000 Investment in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,341 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $365,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $6,265,813,000 after purchasing an additional 706,317 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,774,381,000 after buying an additional 463,497 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,688,672 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,496,939,000 after buying an additional 131,268 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,212,422 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,109,931,000 after buying an additional 33,962 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,935,046 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $773,355,000 after buying an additional 145,978 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup restated a "buy" rating and set a $348.00 target price (up previously from $330.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Monday, July 14th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $325.00 price target on General Dynamics and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 9th. TD Securities increased their target price on General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on General Dynamics from $305.00 to $300.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $268.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have given a 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 $294.53.

General Dynamics Price Performance

NYSE GD traded down $0.87 during trading on Friday, hitting $299.22. 1,636,205 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,404,489. The company has a market capitalization of $80.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $284.47 and a 200-day simple moving average of $270.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12-month low of $239.20 and a 12-month high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $12.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.92 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.82% and a net margin of 8.08%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.88 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is currently 41.61%.

Insider Activity

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 7,639 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.44, for a total transaction of $2,142,281.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 769,607 shares of the company's stock, valued at $215,828,587.08. The trade was a 0.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

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.