Vest Financial LLC Has $51.95 Million Stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 14.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 171,891 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 22,017 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $51,945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,639,758 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,216,599,000 after buying an additional 293,316 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 2.5% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 4,782,612 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,351,041,000 after buying an additional 115,063 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in General Dynamics by 2.4% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 2,071,803 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $601,756,000 after purchasing an additional 47,915 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in General Dynamics by 1.4% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 1,680,666 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $474,927,000 after purchasing an additional 23,262 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in General Dynamics by 1.5% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,606,289 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $466,049,000 after purchasing an additional 23,304 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Peter A. Wall sold 1,320 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, September 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.05, for a total transaction of $406,626.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,106,515.60. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.52% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GD. Seaport Res Ptn cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Susquehanna upped their target price on General Dynamics from $333.00 to $352.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their target price on General Dynamics from $331.00 to $354.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 10th. Barclays upped their target price on General Dynamics from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 30th. Finally, TD Cowen raised General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.18.

General Dynamics Price Performance

NYSE GD traded up $0.25 on Friday, reaching $308.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,316,379 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,090,915. The company has a current ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm has a market cap of $84.64 billion, a PE ratio of 25.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 0.61. General Dynamics Co. has a 52 week low of $232.29 and a 52 week high of $310.58. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $299.34 and a 200 day moving average price of $294.29.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.30 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $11.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.46 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.74% and a net margin of 7.89%. General Dynamics’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.38 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be paid a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 11th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.84%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.33%.

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.