Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Lowers Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado reduced its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 19.7% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 275,039 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 67,526 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $72,470,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GD. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada cut their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $307.00 to $284.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $283.00 price target (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Vertical Research cut General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Baird R W lowered General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.83.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $272.30 on Friday. 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 firm’s 50-day moving average price is $264.21 and its 200 day moving average price is $271.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.08 billion, a PE ratio of 19.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.43. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $239.20 and a twelve month high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.23. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The firm had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.92 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 issued a $1.50 dividend. 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. This is a boost 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 General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total transaction of $7,499,895.82. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Dynamics 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.