Arax Advisory Partners Sells 45,088 Shares of General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Arax Advisory Partners lessened its stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 90.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,779 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 45,088 shares during the quarter. Arax Advisory Partners’ holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,609,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $8,338,169,000 after acquiring an additional 528,769 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,323,170 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,812,058,000 after acquiring an additional 294,456 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,065,462 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $2,039,742,000 after acquiring an additional 195,604 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,307,389 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,786,786,000 after acquiring an additional 114,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 5.4% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,627,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,236,900,000 after acquiring an additional 187,435 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GD opened at $359.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $97.11 billion, a PE ratio of 22.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.34. General Dynamics Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $275.49 and a fifty-two week high of $369.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.38. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $340.51 and a 200-day moving average of $346.78.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $13.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.70 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 8.07%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.66 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.62 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a dividend of $1.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.03%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In related news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total value of $12,596,179.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 38,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,457,677.75. The trade was a 48.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on GD shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on General Dynamics from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on General Dynamics from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane decreased their target price on General Dynamics from $430.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group raised General Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $388.40.

About General Dynamics

General Dynamics is a major American aerospace and defense contractor that designs, manufactures and supports a broad range of products and services for government and commercial customers worldwide. Headquartered in the United States (Reston, Virginia), the company supplies platforms and systems used by armed forces, civil authorities and private operators across multiple domains including air, land, sea and cyber.

Its principal activities span several operating businesses: a business aviation unit that develops and supports Gulfstream business jets; land systems that produce armored combat vehicles and related logistics and sustainment services; marine systems that design and construct submarines and surface ships for navies; and mission systems and information technology operations that provide command-and-control, communications, cybersecurity and systems-integration services.