Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC Increases Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 19,761 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 1,216 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $5,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,423,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $4,955,023,000 after purchasing an additional 133,061 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 12.0% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,615,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755,276 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 6.5% in the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,228,831 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $962,711,000 after purchasing an additional 259,855 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,017,057 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $887,649,000 after purchasing an additional 17,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 2,622,031 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $650,552,000 after purchasing an additional 282,436 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares in the company, valued at $39,502,023.75. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:GD traded up $3.55 during trading on Friday, reaching $288.82. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 383,409 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,059,247. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $202.35 and a 12 month high of $296.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.24 billion, a PE ratio of 23.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $278.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $259.03.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.68 by ($0.04). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 7.84%. The firm had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.39 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.58 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.97%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.25%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GD shares. Barclays upped their price objective on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, February 3rd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.80.

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.