Insider Selling: General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) CEO Sells 32,355 Shares of Stock

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

General Dynamics Price Performance

GD stock traded up $4.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $268.97. The stock had a trading volume of 1,234,600 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,330,854. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $253.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $237.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.70. General Dynamics Co. has a 52 week low of $202.35 and a 52 week high of $269.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.68 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.39 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. General Dynamics's quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.58 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.52 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 9th. Investors of record on Friday, January 19th will be paid a dividend of $1.32 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, January 18th. This represents a $5.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.96%. General Dynamics's payout ratio is 43.93%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GD. Guidance Capital Inc. bought a new position in General Dynamics during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $992,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 9.3% during the second quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 21,767 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $4,683,000 after purchasing an additional 1,847 shares during the last quarter. Moreno Evelyn V grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 17.1% in the third quarter. Moreno Evelyn V now owns 27,310 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $6,035,000 after acquiring an additional 3,991 shares during the last quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. grew its position in General Dynamics by 13.8% during the 2nd quarter. McKinley Carter Wealth Services Inc. now owns 6,572 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,414,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 57.7% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 326,121 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $72,063,000 after acquiring an additional 119,264 shares in the last quarter. 86.08% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GD. StockNews.com upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup boosted their price objective on General Dynamics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded General Dynamics from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $296.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday. Bank Of America (Bofa) raised their price objective on General Dynamics from $295.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 24th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $300.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $271.69.

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.

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