756 Shares in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) Bought by Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc.

Pettyjohn Wood & White Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 756 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 16.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,885 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $760,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in General Dynamics by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 15,316 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,036,000 after purchasing an additional 1,327 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 6.3% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 22,335 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,885,000 after buying an additional 1,324 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors grew its stake in General Dynamics by 13.4% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 14,602 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,847,000 after purchasing an additional 1,721 shares during the period. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 44.7% in the fourth quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,828 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,534,000 after acquiring an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Leon Rudy F. De sold 5,490 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.81, for a total value of $1,717,326.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 5,483 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,715,137.23. The trade was a 50.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 43,860 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.28, for a total value of $13,696,600.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,452,165. This trade represents a 52.38% decrease in their position. 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 in the last quarter. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of GD stock opened at $310.45 on Friday. General Dynamics Corporation has a 1-year low of $239.20 and a 1-year high of $322.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $291.05 and its 200 day moving average price is $273.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The company has a market cap of $83.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 0.48.

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

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 40.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on GD. UBS Group raised their target price on General Dynamics from $309.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $325.00 price target on General Dynamics and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. TD Securities raised their price target on General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Barclays raised their price target on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $314.00 price target on General Dynamics and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $315.78.

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.