Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires 1,310 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 220,412 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,310 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $58,076,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 67.6% during the third quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,546 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,583,000 after buying an additional 3,448 shares during the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 4,000 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 37,074 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $11,204,000 after purchasing an additional 3,363 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 69.1% in the 4th quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 261,992 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $69,032,000 after purchasing an additional 107,095 shares during the period. Finally, Lummis Asset Management LP lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 32.6% in the third quarter. Lummis Asset Management LP now owns 10,368 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,133,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of GD opened at $268.07 on Friday. General Dynamics Co. has a 1-year low of $251.62 and a 1-year high of $316.90. The company has a market capitalization of $73.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $270.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $287.88.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.90% and a return on equity of 16.59%. The company had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.65 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.04 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders 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 yield of 2.12%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 43.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on GD. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on General Dynamics from $295.00 to $279.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $283.00 to $245.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $354.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Vertical Research lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research note on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $304.88.

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.