Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Purchases 1,961 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 14.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 15,578 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,961 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.'s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $4,105,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GD. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in General Dynamics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $6,265,813,000 after acquiring an additional 706,317 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $1,774,381,000 after purchasing an additional 463,497 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 2.4% in the 4th 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 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,212,422 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,109,931,000 after buying an additional 33,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 2,935,046 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $773,355,000 after buying an additional 145,978 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total value of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. This represents a 37.88% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. William Blair cut shares of General Dynamics from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Argus set a $295.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday, May 6th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, TD Securities lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $293.00.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.6%

General Dynamics stock traded up $1.63 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $275.27. The stock had a trading volume of 992,225 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,374,260. The stock has a market capitalization of $73.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.49. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $271.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $267.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. General Dynamics Co. has a 1-year low of $239.20 and a 1-year high of $316.90.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.92 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The firm's revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a positive change from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics's payout ratio is presently 41.61%.

General Dynamics 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.