Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp Takes $78,000 Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 295 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $78,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. William Blair lowered General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Wolfe Research downgraded General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. 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. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Baird R W downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given 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.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.71.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total transaction of $7,499,895.82. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

General Dynamics stock opened at $269.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 1.37 and a quick ratio of 0.82. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $239.87 and a 12 month high of $316.90. The company has a market cap of $72.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $258.67 and its 200-day moving average is $277.22.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $1.50 dividend. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 43.99%.

General Dynamics declared that its board has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the aerospace company to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.