Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 1.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,591 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GD. Markel Corp lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 390,500 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $94,181,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 13.2% during the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,202 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,014,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 294.2% during the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 540 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 791.6% during the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,275 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 51.6% during the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,153 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,237,000 after buying an additional 11,630 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GD. UBS Group increased their target price on General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. StockNews.com cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $300.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Alembic Global Advisors cut General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on General Dynamics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $271.69.

General Dynamics Stock Up 1.3 %

GD opened at $281.90 on Thursday. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $202.35 and a 12 month high of $284.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $77.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.68. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $269.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $251.54.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.68 by ($0.04). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.39 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.01%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.93%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,502,023.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $39,502,023.75. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

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.