1,750 Shares in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Purchased by St. Clair Advisors LLC

St. Clair Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 1,750 shares of the aerospace company's stock, valued at approximately $461,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $279,582,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth about $197,238,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $6,265,813,000 after acquiring an additional 706,317 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,774,381,000 after purchasing an additional 463,497 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 43.1% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 942,485 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $284,818,000 after purchasing an additional 283,972 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GD shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup reduced their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $335.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. BTIG Research downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Argus set a $295.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $293.00.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.3%

NYSE:GD traded down $0.93 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $276.77. 1,034,785 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,373,428. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $270.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $268.72. General Dynamics Co. has a fifty-two week low of $239.20 and a fifty-two week high of $316.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market capitalization of $74.28 billion, a PE ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.49.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.23. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The company had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.92 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.88 EPS. General Dynamics's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were given a dividend of $1.50 per share. This is an increase from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.61%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total value of $7,499,895.82. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,297,195.12. The trade was a 37.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.