CWS Financial Advisors LLC Grows Stock Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

CWS Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 25.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,938 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 399 shares during the quarter. CWS Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $511,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GD. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 37.2% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 17,629 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,291,000 after acquiring an additional 4,779 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its position in General Dynamics by 10.3% during the third quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 1,708 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in General Dynamics by 23.5% during the third quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,032 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,032,000 after buying an additional 1,912 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue lifted its position in General Dynamics by 11.3% during the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 37,266 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $11,260,000 after buying an additional 3,770 shares in the last quarter. Finally, J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. lifted its position in General Dynamics by 26.3% during the third quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 10,976 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,317,000 after buying an additional 2,284 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the sale, the director now owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,224. This represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Citigroup reduced their price objective on General Dynamics from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Vertical Research downgraded General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $283.00 price objective (down previously from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group reduced their target price on General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, William Blair downgraded General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $298.59.

General Dynamics Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE GD opened at $246.24 on Tuesday. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $239.87 and a twelve month high of $316.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $259.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $282.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $66.57 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.61.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to buyback 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.64%.

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.