Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC Acquires 25,508 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 306.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 33,826 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,508 shares during the period. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $8,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GD. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in General Dynamics by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,606,137 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $686,691,000 after buying an additional 103,870 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 545,143 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $143,640,000 after purchasing an additional 24,633 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 289.0% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 922 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $243,000 after purchasing an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth $63,000. Finally, Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its stake in General Dynamics by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 6,039 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,591,000 after purchasing an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.5 %

GD traded down $1.26 on Tuesday, hitting $270.88. 221,219 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,360,675. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $267.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $270.44. 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 cap of $72.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.49. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $239.20 and a twelve month high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.23. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. The firm had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.88 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This is an increase from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total transaction of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,192 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,297,195.12. This represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GD shares. Cowen reissued a "buy" rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $283.00 target price (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. William Blair downgraded shares of General Dynamics from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $268.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Citigroup dropped their price target on General Dynamics from $335.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $292.88.

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.