Insider Selling: General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) CEO Sells 49,850 Shares of Stock

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total value of $14,182,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,773,956.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of GD stock opened at $286.53 on Thursday. 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 $78.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.68. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $281.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $262.88. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.85%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.64 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.33%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GD shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Alembic Global Advisors downgraded General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Argus boosted their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. UBS Group boosted their target price on General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, General Dynamics currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $297.06.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in General Dynamics by 99.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 29,045 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,542,000 after buying an additional 14,468 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the third quarter worth about $16,077,000. Clough Capital Partners L P purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the third quarter worth about $26,868,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 57.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 326,121 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $72,063,000 after buying an additional 119,264 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 262.5% in the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 23,229 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,032,000 after buying an additional 16,821 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.