General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) Stock Price Down 0.1% After Insider Selling

Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) traded down 0.1% during trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $297.01 and last traded at $297.61. 132,291 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average session volume of 1,076,944 shares. The stock had previously closed at $298.01.

Specifically, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,773,956.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,773,956.50. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total transaction of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 103,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,816,065.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,486 shares of company stock worth $34,391,642 in the last three months. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Argus increased their price target on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Jefferies Financial Group raised General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $305.00 to $335.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. 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 report on Thursday, April 4th. Susquehanna increased their price target on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $300.63.

General Dynamics Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market cap of $82.20 billion, a PE ratio of 24.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $289.09 and a 200-day simple moving average of $269.22.

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

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th were issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 11th. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 46.33%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GD. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at about $728,284,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $3,615,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,755,276 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 10,763.2% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 923,593 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $239,829,000 after acquiring an additional 915,091 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 1st quarter valued at about $179,000. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3,645.4% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 558,586 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $145,048,000 after acquiring an additional 543,672 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

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.