Principal Street Partners LLC Reduces Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Principal Street Partners LLC decreased its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 50.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 795 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 813 shares during the period. Principal Street Partners LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Dynamics news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares in the company, valued at $12,297,195.12. This represents a 37.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GD. UBS Group lifted their target price on General Dynamics from $268.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. BTIG Research cut General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Citigroup reduced their target price on General Dynamics from $335.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on General Dynamics from $307.00 to $284.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price objective on General Dynamics from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.00.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE:GD opened at $281.38 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $239.20 and a one year high of $316.90. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $270.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $268.66. The stock has a market cap of $75.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.49.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.23. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. The business had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.92 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.13%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 41.61%.

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.