Legacy Private Trust Co. Reduces Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Legacy Private Trust Co. decreased its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 8.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,420 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 220 shares during the quarter. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $638,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Seaport Res Ptn cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $331.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered General Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $283.00 to $245.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada downgraded General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, nine have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $308.18.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $261.35 on Thursday. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $247.36 and a twelve month high of $316.90. The stock has a market cap of $71.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $277.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $289.54.

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

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.17%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 43.26%.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 often an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $1,556,241.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. The trade was a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

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.