Arista Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Arista Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 1,119 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $290,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Markel Corp boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Markel Corp now owns 390,500 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $94,181,000 after buying an additional 3,500 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 13.2% in the 1st quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,202 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,014,000 after buying an additional 490 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 294.2% in the 1st quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 540 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $130,000 after buying an additional 403 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 791.6% in the 1st quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 1,275 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 1,132 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 51.6% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 34,153 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,237,000 after buying an additional 11,630 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the sale, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of GD traded up $2.17 during trading on Thursday, reaching $286.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 84,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,061,089. The company has a fifty day moving average of $278.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $258.85. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $202.35 and a twelve month high of $296.50. The company has a market cap of $78.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41.

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

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 47.25%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on GD. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Barclays upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Susquehanna upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.80.

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.