Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Increases Stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 3.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 31,372 shares of the aerospace company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,015 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $8,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 34,578.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,244,600 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $339,253,000 after acquiring an additional 1,241,011 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $279,582,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at $197,238,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $6,265,813,000 after purchasing an additional 706,317 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in 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 worth $1,774,381,000 after buying an additional 463,497 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Argus set a $295.00 price target on General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of 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. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. TD Securities raised their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $268.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $290.24.

General Dynamics Price Performance

General Dynamics stock traded down $0.56 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $290.83. 2,268,179 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,399,297. The company has a market cap of $78.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $276.24 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $266.91. General Dynamics Corporation has a 52-week low of $239.20 and a 52-week high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $12.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.92 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.82% and a net margin of 8.08%. General Dynamics's revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics's payout ratio is 41.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 178,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The stock was 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 now directly owns 769,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $217,898,829.91. This represents a 18.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

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.