M&T Bank Corp Cuts Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

M&T Bank Corp decreased its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 0.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 53,356 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 251 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $16,124,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Nabity Jensen Investment Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the third quarter worth $432,000. Barclays PLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 43.1% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 942,485 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $284,818,000 after acquiring an additional 283,972 shares in the last quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 122.7% in the third quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 519 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $152,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 1.7% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 4,088 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,195,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PYA Waltman Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 4.9% in the third quarter. PYA Waltman Capital LLC now owns 7,453 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,252,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $317.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted 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, October 24th. TD Cowen upgraded shares of General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $325.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.69.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Dynamics news, Director Peter A. Wall sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.05, for a total value 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 26.87 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. This trade represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:GD opened at $270.46 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $294.78 and a 200-day simple moving average of $294.60. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $247.36 and a one year high of $316.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.59.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The business had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.04 earnings per share. General Dynamics’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.87 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.10%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.26%.

General Dynamics announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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.