First Hawaiian Bank Has $1.50 Million Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

First Hawaiian Bank lowered its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 4.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,698 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 275 shares during the period. First Hawaiian Bank’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GD. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 67.6% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,546 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,583,000 after buying an additional 3,448 shares in the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 36.4% during the 3rd quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 15,000 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,533,000 after acquiring an additional 4,000 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in General Dynamics by 10.0% in the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 37,074 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $11,204,000 after acquiring an additional 3,363 shares during the period. Lummis Asset Management LP raised its position in General Dynamics by 32.6% in the third quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 10,368 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,133,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 17.5% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 297,577 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $89,928,000 after purchasing an additional 44,387 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Susquehanna lowered their price objective on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $315.00 and set a “positive” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Barclays dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. TD Cowen upgraded shares of General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $331.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Finally, Vertical Research lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, nine have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $308.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $1,556,241.40. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at $5,701,349.36. This trade represents a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of GD opened at $261.35 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $277.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $289.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $71.86 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. General Dynamics Co. has a 12-month low of $247.36 and a 12-month high of $316.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.48 by ($0.13). The business had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.84 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.17%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 43.26%.

General Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

General Dynamics 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.