St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC Trims Stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lowered its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,445 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 196 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,041,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 4.0% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,639,758 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,216,599,000 after acquiring an additional 293,316 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 2.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 115,063 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 2.4% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,071,803 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $601,756,000 after buying an additional 47,915 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 1.4% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,680,666 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,927,000 after buying an additional 23,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 1.5% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,606,289 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $466,049,000 after buying an additional 23,304 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $320.00 to $314.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $320.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein decreased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $317.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.88.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Peter A. Wall sold 1,320 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.05, for a total transaction of $406,626.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 3,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,515.60. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of GD stock opened at $302.52 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $83.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.61. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $236.58 and a one year high of $313.11. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $300.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $294.60. 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 (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.48 by ($0.13). The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.04 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.38 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 11th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.88%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 46.33%.

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.