General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Stake Lifted by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 0.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 222,398 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 107 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.08% of General Dynamics worth $58,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 241.7% in the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the third quarter worth $26,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research cut General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their price target on General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. UBS Group cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Sanford C. Bernstein cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $283.00 price objective (down previously from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $298.59.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD stock opened at $241.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. The stock has a market cap of $66.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $262.55 and a 200 day simple moving average of $284.58. General Dynamics Co. has a 52 week low of $239.87 and a 52 week high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. Research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.35%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.64%.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. The trade was a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.