Granite Group Advisors LLC Purchases 1,267 Shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Granite Group Advisors LLC grew its position in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 33.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,111 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,267 shares during the quarter. General Dynamics makes up about 1.0% of Granite Group Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Granite Group Advisors LLC's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,393,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Securities Inc. boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 0.5% during the first quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 8,203 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,161,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Sharpepoint LLC raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 4.2% during the first quarter. Sharpepoint LLC now owns 917 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $249,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 1858 Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 1.2% during the first quarter. 1858 Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,224 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $879,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Keystone Financial Services raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 1.6% during the first quarter. Keystone Financial Services now owns 2,421 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $660,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pure Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.7% during the first quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,025 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,642,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on GD. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $360.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $300.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $298.00 to $342.00 in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $261.00 to $236.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $325.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $312.17.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD traded down $0.33 during trading on Friday, hitting $313.92. 1,218,137 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,276,632. The firm has a market cap of $84.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.06 and a beta of 0.46. The stock's fifty day moving average is $287.67 and its 200 day moving average is $272.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.36 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.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.74 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.47 by $0.27. The company had revenue of $13.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.13 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.26 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.91%. General Dynamics's payout ratio is 40.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 178,821 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.13, for a total value of $50,629,589.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 769,607 shares in the company, valued at $217,898,829.91. This trade represents a 18.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.