Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. Cuts Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Benedict Financial Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,372 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 114 shares during the quarter. Benedict Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,679,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in General Dynamics by 241.7% during the 3rd quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Financial Life Planners purchased a new position in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Hara Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GD shares. Vertical Research downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. TD Cowen cut their price target on General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Baird R W cut General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating 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 for the company in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup upped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $354.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $300.06.

Insider Activity

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,175 shares in the company, valued at $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was 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 owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,701,349.36. The trade was a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE GD opened at $254.84 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $264.47 and a 200-day moving average price of $285.62. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $247.01 and a one year high of $316.90. The company has a market capitalization of $70.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.37.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.10% and a net margin of 7.93%. As a group, equities analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th were given a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 17th. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.23%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.64%.

General Dynamics announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are 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.