Horizon Investment Services LLC Buys New Stake in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Horizon Investment Services LLC bought a new stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 7,980 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,687,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GD. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,885 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $760,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 140.2% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,445 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $938,000 after purchasing an additional 2,011 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the second quarter valued at $240,000. Flow Traders U.S. LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the second quarter valued at $352,000. Finally, Jump Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the second quarter valued at $1,284,000. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $327.00 to $313.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of General Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $388.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total transaction of $12,596,179.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,975 shares of the company’s stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of GD opened at $359.92 on Friday. General Dynamics Corporation has a twelve month low of $275.49 and a twelve month high of $369.70. The company has a market cap of $97.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $340.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $346.59.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its 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. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The business had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.62 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

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

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.