Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 5,390 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 292,187 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 5,390 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $76,988,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GD. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 241.7% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on GD shares. Citigroup decreased their price target on General Dynamics from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, February 10th. TD Cowen lowered their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. BTIG Research lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $298.59.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of GD opened at $243.95 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a market cap of $65.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.88, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.61. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $260.41 and its 200-day moving average price is $283.10. General Dynamics Co. has a 52 week low of $239.87 and a 52 week high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were paid a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.64%.

General Dynamics announced that its board has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $1,556,241.40. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares of the company’s stock, 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 through this link. Also, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,224. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.