Morningstar Investment Services LLC Sells 4,235 Shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Morningstar Investment Services LLC reduced its stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 32.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,752 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 4,235 shares during the period. Morningstar Investment Services LLC's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,386,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Guys Formula LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the first quarter valued at approximately $1,692,000. Advisory Resource Group boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 7.1% in the first quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 19,200 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $5,234,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 18.9% in the first quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP now owns 16,144 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $4,401,000 after acquiring an additional 2,568 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 59.1% in the fourth quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 2,929 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $772,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088 shares during the period. Finally, Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 31.6% in the first quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 33,644 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $9,171,000 after acquiring an additional 8,073 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GD. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $348.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $314.00 target price on General Dynamics and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $325.00 target price on General Dynamics and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $294.53.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 7,639 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, June 16th. The shares were 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 directly owned 769,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $215,828,587.08. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of General Dynamics stock traded down $0.87 on Friday, hitting $299.22. 1,636,205 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,406,219. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $284.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $270.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12-month low of $239.20 and a 12-month high of $316.90. The company has a market cap of $80.31 billion, a PE ratio of 20.75, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.46.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.23. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 17.82%. The business had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.88 EPS. General Dynamics's revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is presently 41.61%.

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.