General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) CEO Phebe N. Novakovic Sells 49,850 Shares

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total value of $14,182,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $218,773,956.50. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.2 %

GD stock opened at $287.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $281.59 and a 200 day moving average of $262.72. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.79 billion, a PE ratio of 23.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. General Dynamics Co. has a 52 week low of $202.35 and a 52 week high of $296.50.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.85%. The business had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.64 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.98%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.33%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On General Dynamics

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in General Dynamics by 0.6% in the 3rd 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 grew its stake in General Dynamics by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,615,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,755,276 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,164,857 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,081,488,000 after purchasing an additional 147,800 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth $728,284,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,293,269 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $506,744,000 after purchasing an additional 275,947 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group increased their target price on General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Alembic Global Advisors cut General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Susquehanna increased their target price on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Finally, StockNews.com raised General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $297.06.

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.