Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 4,832 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 150,498 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 4,832 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $43,666,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in General Dynamics by 2.5% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,782,612 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,351,041,000 after purchasing an additional 115,063 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,164,857 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,081,488,000 after buying an additional 147,800 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth about $728,284,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in General Dynamics by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,282,757 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $592,764,000 after acquiring an additional 24,395 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 1.4% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,680,666 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,927,000 after acquiring an additional 23,262 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GD has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 23rd. Robert W. Baird reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, July 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley raised General Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $293.00 to $345.00 in a research report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. They set a “buy” rating and a $345.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $315.06.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD stock opened at $299.36 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.33 and a quick ratio of 0.80. General Dynamics Co. has a 1 year low of $214.53 and a 1 year high of $302.75. The company has a market cap of $82.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $290.64 and its 200-day moving average price is $288.05.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by ($0.04). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The firm had revenue of $11.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.70 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.52 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be given a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 11th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.90%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 46.33%.

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.