Vontobel Holding Ltd. Cuts Stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. cut its holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 23,406 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 770 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $6,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Markel Corp boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 0.9% during the first quarter. Markel Corp now owns 390,500 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $94,181,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 13.2% during the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,202 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,014,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 294.2% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 540 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 791.6% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,275 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $308,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 51.6% during the first quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,153 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,237,000 after purchasing an additional 11,630 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of GD stock opened at $284.48 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $202.35 and a twelve month high of $296.50. The company has a market capitalization of $78.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68. The business’s 50 day moving average is $278.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $258.85.

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

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,502,023.75. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the company’s 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 owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at $204,569,860.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GD shares. StockNews.com lowered General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 3rd. Susquehanna increased their price target on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on General Dynamics from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.80.

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.