Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 13,766 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky trimmed its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 24.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,539 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 13,766 shares during the period. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $10,946,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GD. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $6,265,813,000 after acquiring an additional 706,317 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in General Dynamics by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,774,381,000 after purchasing an additional 463,497 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in General Dynamics by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,688,672 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,496,939,000 after purchasing an additional 131,268 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,212,422 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,109,931,000 after purchasing an additional 33,962 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,428,644 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $639,923,000 after purchasing an additional 232,383 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,224. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the transaction, 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GD shares. Vertical Research cut shares of General Dynamics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. BTIG Research cut shares of General Dynamics from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, William Blair downgraded General Dynamics from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $293.83.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of GD stock traded up $0.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $272.30. The company had a trading volume of 947,647 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,363,369. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.43. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $264.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.77. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $239.20 and a one year high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $12.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $11.92 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. Equities analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics's payout ratio is 41.61%.

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.