General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Director Laura J. Schumacher Sells 1,796 Shares of Stock

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,224. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of GD stock opened at $257.64 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $266.56 and a 200-day moving average of $286.50. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $247.01 and a one year high of $316.90. The stock has a market cap of $70.84 billion, a PE ratio of 18.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.82.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.88 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.64%.

Institutional Trading of General Dynamics

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GD. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 0.8% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,292,851,000 after buying an additional 109,618 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in General Dynamics by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,307,612,000 after acquiring an additional 943,247 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in General Dynamics by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,366,124,000 after acquiring an additional 189,904 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,674,998,000 after purchasing an additional 638,342 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,493,030,000 after purchasing an additional 24,464 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GD. Wolfe Research cut shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 11th. Susquehanna reduced their price objective on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $300.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $300.00 price target (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $307.00 to $284.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $300.06.

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.