Cerity Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 67.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 28,912 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,627 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $7,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at about $607,393,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 12.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,615,185,000 after buying an additional 1,755,276 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 484.2% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 1,749,729 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $399,306,000 after buying an additional 1,450,213 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 91,832.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 1,386,337 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $343,964,000 after buying an additional 1,384,829 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 10,763.2% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 923,593 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $239,829,000 after acquiring an additional 915,091 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Stock Down 1.1 %

GD opened at $284.68 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $277.72 and a 200-day moving average price of $258.21. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $202.35 and a twelve month high of $296.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.68, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 0.68.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.68 by ($0.04). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The company had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GD shares. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors lowered shares of General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $283.79.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,502,023.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,502,023.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.