General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) Shares Sold by Blair William & Co. IL

Key Points

• Blair William & Co. IL reduced its stake in General Dynamics by 8.7%, now owning 290,567 shares worth approximately $79.2 million.
• Several analysts have updated their price targets for General Dynamics, with Barclays increasing theirs from $285.00 to $350.00 and giving an "overweight" rating.
• General Dynamics reported $3.74 EPS for the last quarter, exceeding estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50 per share.

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its position in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 8.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 290,567 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 27,707 shares during the quarter. Blair William & Co. IL owned 0.11% of General Dynamics worth $79,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Rialto Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 213.8% during the first quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Copia Wealth Management bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GD shares. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $314.00 target price on General Dynamics and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. TD Securities increased their price target on General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $305.00 to $300.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $261.00 to $236.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $315.78.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.4%

General Dynamics stock opened at $310.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market capitalization of $83.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.48. General Dynamics Corporation has a one year low of $239.20 and a one year high of $322.50. The company's fifty day moving average price is $291.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $273.94.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 the consensus estimate of $12.13 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.26 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.27%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 43,860 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.28, for a total transaction of $13,696,600.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,875 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,452,165. This trade represents a 52.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 7,639 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 769,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $215,828,587.08. This trade represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 268,370 shares of company stock valued at $78,408,011. 1.50% of the stock is owned by 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.