General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Short Interest Up 12.3% in March

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) was the target of a large growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,830,000 shares, a growth of 12.3% from the February 29th total of 1,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 1.8 days. Currently, 0.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

General Dynamics Trading Up 3.2 %

General Dynamics stock traded up $9.07 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $291.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,742,933 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,067,105. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $79.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.68. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $271.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $252.90. General Dynamics has a 12 month low of $202.35 and a 12 month high of $291.96.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.68 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.39 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The business's revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.58 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that General Dynamics will post 14.59 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.95%. This is an increase from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, February 3rd. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors downgraded shares of General Dynamics from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $296.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Monday, January 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $271.69.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,502,023.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares in the company, valued at approximately $39,502,023.75. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, 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 of the company's stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GD. Copperwynd Financial LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,056 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $274,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC now owns 1,727 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $448,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in General Dynamics by 16.2% in the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 287 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the period. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,830 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,812,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. Finally, Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in General Dynamics by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 10,377 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $2,695,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.