Flputnam Investment Management Co. Buys 118 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 10.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,286 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $334,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,423,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,955,023,000 after acquiring an additional 133,061 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,615,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755,276 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 6.5% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,228,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $962,711,000 after buying an additional 259,855 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.4% during the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,017,057 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $887,649,000 after buying an additional 17,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,622,031 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $650,552,000 after buying an additional 282,436 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on GD shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Citigroup upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $283.80.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

General Dynamics stock opened at $285.27 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68. General Dynamics Co. has a 1-year low of $202.35 and a 1-year high of $296.50. The company’s 50-day moving average is $278.70 and its 200 day moving average is $259.03.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). The business had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.39 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 7.84%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.58 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.57 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date 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 1.99%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.25%.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

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

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.