Meritage Portfolio Management Has $345,000 Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Meritage Portfolio Management lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 29.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,328 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 304 shares during the period. Meritage Portfolio Management’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $345,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GD. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 99.3% during the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 29,045 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,542,000 after acquiring an additional 14,468 shares during the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at about $16,077,000. Moreno Evelyn V increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 17.1% in the third quarter. Moreno Evelyn V now owns 27,310 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,035,000 after buying an additional 3,991 shares during the period. Clough Capital Partners L P bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the third quarter worth about $26,868,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 57.7% in the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 326,121 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $72,063,000 after acquiring an additional 119,264 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,569,860.87. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GD. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Susquehanna boosted 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. Barclays upped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $325.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors cut General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, January 29th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.63.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $284.41 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $78.03 billion, a PE ratio of 23.20, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $202.35 and a 52 week high of $296.50. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $280.86 and a 200-day moving average price of $261.71.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $10.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 16.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.56 earnings per share 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.00%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.33%.

About General Dynamics

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.