Sierra Ocean LLC Lowers Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Sierra Ocean LLC decreased its stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 7.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 815 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 62 shares during the quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $222,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GD. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in General Dynamics by 34,578.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,244,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $339,253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241,011 shares in the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $279,582,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $197,238,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in General Dynamics by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,265,813,000 after purchasing an additional 706,317 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in General Dynamics by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,774,381,000 after purchasing an additional 463,497 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 178,821 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.13, for a total transaction of $50,629,589.73. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 769,607 shares in the company, valued at $217,898,829.91. This trade represents a 18.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on GD. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Argus set a $295.00 target price on General Dynamics in a report on Tuesday, May 6th. TD Securities increased their target price on General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. TD Cowen increased their target price on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on General Dynamics from $268.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $290.24.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $294.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.39, a PEG ratio of 1.98 and a beta of 0.46. General Dynamics Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $239.20 and a fifty-two week high of $316.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a current ratio of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $278.76 and a 200 day moving average of $268.09.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $12.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.92 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.82% and a net margin of 8.08%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be given a dividend of $1.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.04%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.61%.

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.