Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 11,721 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas reduced its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 85,523 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 11,721 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in General Dynamics were worth $22,208,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $3,615,185,000 after buying an additional 1,755,276 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in General Dynamics by 10,763.2% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 923,593 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $239,829,000 after purchasing an additional 915,091 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its stake in General Dynamics by 55.2% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 806,917 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $178,304,000 after purchasing an additional 286,928 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,293,269 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $506,744,000 after purchasing an additional 275,947 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,763,878 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $392,110,000 after purchasing an additional 198,185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GD. UBS Group upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut General Dynamics from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Argus upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a "positive" rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded General Dynamics from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $305.00 to $335.00 in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $300.53.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD stock traded up $0.47 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $296.44. 1,019,423 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,207,241. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $284.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $265.33. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $202.35 and a 12 month high of $297.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $81.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.18, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.67. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.85%. General Dynamics's revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $2.64 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a $1.42 dividend. This is an increase from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.92%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics's payout ratio is presently 46.33%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total value of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 103,345 shares of the company's stock, valued at $29,816,065.95. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, Director Leon Rudy F. De sold 2,570 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.00, for a total transaction of $740,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 5,518 shares in the company, valued at $1,589,184. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total value of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 103,345 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $29,816,065.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 65,987 shares of company stock worth $18,836,700. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.