BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Boosts Stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 14.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,724 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 5,811 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $11,784,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Life Planners purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Hoey Investments Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. BTIG Research downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $300.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Susquehanna increased their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. William Blair downgraded shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, TD Securities increased their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $293.00.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD opened at $276.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The company has a market cap of $74.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.29, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.49. General Dynamics Co. has a 52-week low of $239.20 and a 52-week high of $316.90. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $268.60.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.92 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 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 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th were given a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date was Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 41.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.