Prepared Retirement Institute LLC Sells 97 Shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Prepared Retirement Institute LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 9.0% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 984 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 97 shares during the quarter. Prepared Retirement Institute LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Bogart Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 1.8% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 30,246 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,244,000 after buying an additional 541 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the first quarter worth approximately $488,000. Signaturefd LLC raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 8.1% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 5,326 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,452,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 4.7% during the first quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 16,993 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,632,000 after buying an additional 766 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weatherly Asset Management L. P. increased its stake in General Dynamics by 2.0% in the first quarter. Weatherly Asset Management L. P. now owns 32,297 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $8,803,000 after purchasing an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $261.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $298.00 to $342.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Citigroup lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $335.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $300.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $294.47.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GD opened at $302.20 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $281.48 and its 200 day moving average is $269.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.34. The company has a market capitalization of $81.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.46. General Dynamics Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $239.20 and a fifty-two week high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 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 8.08% and a return on equity of 17.82%. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.88 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 41.61%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 7,639 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.44, for a total value of $2,142,281.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 769,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $215,828,587.08. This represents a 0.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.