Davis R M Inc. Grows Stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Davis R M Inc. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 35.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,223 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the period. Davis R M Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $606,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GD. Rialto Wealth Management LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 213.8% during the first quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 62 shares in the last quarter. Inlight Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics during the first quarter valued at about $26,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Copia Wealth Management purchased a new stake in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GD shares. Wolfe Research upgraded General Dynamics from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $284.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Argus set a $295.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $315.78.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:GD opened at $311.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $83.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $290.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $273.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.36, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12 month low of $239.20 and a 12 month high of $322.50.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.74 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.27. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The company had revenue of $13.04 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.13 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.26 earnings per share. General Dynamics’s revenue was up 8.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 178,821 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.13, for a total value of $50,629,589.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 769,607 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $217,898,829.91. This represents a 18.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Leon Rudy F. De sold 5,490 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.81, for a total transaction of $1,717,326.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 5,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,715,137.23. The trade was a 50.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 268,370 shares of company stock valued at $78,408,011 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

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.