Catalina Capital Group LLC Acquires 81 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Catalina Capital Group LLC raised its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,123 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 81 shares during the quarter. Catalina Capital Group LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $296,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in General Dynamics by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 14,205,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,292,851,000 after buying an additional 109,618 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in General Dynamics by 9.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,307,612,000 after purchasing an additional 943,247 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,829,662 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,366,124,000 after purchasing an additional 189,904 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in General Dynamics by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,674,998,000 after purchasing an additional 638,342 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 4,940,537 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,493,030,000 after purchasing an additional 24,464 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on GD shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $354.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wolfe Research lowered General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 11th. Baird R W cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. UBS Group cut their target price on General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on General Dynamics from $330.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $301.24.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD opened at $256.80 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $267.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $286.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $70.61 billion, a PE ratio of 18.83, a PEG ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.61. General Dynamics Co. has a 52-week low of $247.01 and a 52-week high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.88 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a $1.42 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 41.64%.

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

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.