Equity Investment Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Equity Investment Corp cut its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 252,575 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 7,436 shares during the quarter. Equity Investment Corp owned approximately 0.09% of General Dynamics worth $66,551,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 3rd quarter worth $355,000. abrdn plc lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 67.1% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 32,456 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $9,737,000 after acquiring an additional 13,032 shares during the period. Fortitude Family Office LLC grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fortitude Family Office LLC now owns 310 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $94,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. increased its position in General Dynamics by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nicholas Hoffman & Company LLC. now owns 6,064 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,833,000 after purchasing an additional 332 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 4.4% in the 3rd quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 5,069 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,532,000 after purchasing an additional 213 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GD shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $280.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. BTIG Research cut General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Barclays cut their target price on General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.71.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE GD opened at $248.92 on Thursday. General Dynamics Co. has a 12-month low of $239.87 and a 12-month high of $316.90. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $258.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $281.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $67.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. On average, analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th were given a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.28%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.64%.

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 repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total value of $459,201.28. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.