General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) Shares Bought by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 20.5% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 7,798 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 1,325 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,423,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,955,023,000 after acquiring an additional 133,061 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 12.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,615,185,000 after buying an additional 1,755,276 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,164,857 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,081,488,000 after buying an additional 147,800 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $728,284,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,282,757 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $592,764,000 after buying an additional 24,395 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GD. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on General Dynamics from $280.00 to $298.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Citigroup raised their price target on General Dynamics from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $305.56.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total transaction of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 103,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $29,816,065.95. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total transaction of $14,182,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,773,956.50. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total value of $3,914,215.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 103,345 shares in the company, valued at $29,816,065.95. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,486 shares of company stock valued at $34,391,642 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GD opened at $284.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The company has a market capitalization of $78.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $294.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $278.64. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $211.94 and a twelve month high of $302.75.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.89 by ($0.01). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 16.48%. The firm had revenue of $10.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.64 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 46.33%.

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.