Madison Investment Advisors LLC Acquires New Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Madison Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,642 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $696,000.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GD. Financial Life Planners bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

NYSE GD opened at $263.30 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $258.50 and a 200-day moving average of $277.79. 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 stock has a market cap of $71.18 billion, a PE ratio of 19.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.59. General Dynamics Co. has a 52-week low of $239.87 and a 52-week high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share (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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the aerospace company to purchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 11th. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 43.99%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total value of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 45,192 shares in the company, valued at $12,297,195.12. The trade was a 37.88 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,224. This trade represents a 13.85 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $244.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, March 7th. Vertical Research downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $352.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 10th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, February 4th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $315.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $297.71.

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.