New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Boosts Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its position in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 8.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 12,014 shares of the aerospace company's stock after acquiring an additional 900 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $3,275,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in General Dynamics by 3.1% in 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 463,497 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 131,268 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 33,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 145,978 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 7,639 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.44, for a total value of $2,142,281.16. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 769,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $215,828,587.08. This trade represents a 0.98% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on GD. TD Securities boosted their price objective on General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on General Dynamics from $261.00 to $236.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Susquehanna boosted their target price on General Dynamics from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. TD Cowen boosted their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded General Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $298.00 to $342.00 in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $294.47.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of GD traded down $0.74 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $302.64. The stock had a trading volume of 495,408 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,395,969. The company's 50-day moving average is $280.90 and its 200 day moving average is $269.04. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12-month low of $239.20 and a 12-month high of $316.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $81.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.46.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.23. The firm 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 company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.61%.

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.