Proficio Capital Partners LLC Sells 188,658 Shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC lowered its position in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 99.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 856 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 188,658 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $233,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Partners Group Inc bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the first quarter worth approximately $246,000. United Bank grew its position in General Dynamics by 13.1% during the first quarter. United Bank now owns 7,910 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,156,000 after buying an additional 918 shares in the last quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. grew its position in General Dynamics by 8.6% during the first quarter. Guidance Capital Inc. now owns 3,527 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $963,000 after buying an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp grew its position in General Dynamics by 1.7% during the first quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 4,434 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,209,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PFG Advisors grew its position in General Dynamics by 37.5% during the first quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 15,903 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $4,335,000 after buying an additional 4,338 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 7,639 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 769,607 shares in the company, valued at $215,828,587.08. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:GD traded down $0.33 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $313.92. 1,218,137 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,276,632. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. General Dynamics Corporation has a one year low of $239.20 and a one year high of $322.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $287.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $272.23.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $13.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.13 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 8.13%. 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 company earned $3.26 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS 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. 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 1.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GD has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on General Dynamics from $284.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group increased their price target on General Dynamics from $309.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. TD Securities raised their target price on General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $325.00 target price on General Dynamics and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised General Dynamics from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $360.00 target price on the stock in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $312.17.

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.