LVW Advisors LLC Sells 471 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

LVW Advisors LLC reduced its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 10,773 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 471 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 40,389.3% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,379,472 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $416,876,000 after buying an additional 1,376,065 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 9.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,945,110 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $3,307,612,000 after acquiring an additional 943,247 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,557,404 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,674,998,000 after acquiring an additional 638,342 shares in the last quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 117.0% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 858,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $259,469,000 after purchasing an additional 463,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2,189.3% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 374,207 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $108,572,000 after purchasing an additional 357,861 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Susquehanna decreased their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $330.00 to $315.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, January 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on General Dynamics from $295.00 to $279.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th. Royal Bank of Canada cut General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $330.00 to $290.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 19th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft decreased their target price on General Dynamics from $303.00 to $295.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Vertical Research downgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $352.00 to $290.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.53.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE:GD opened at $266.86 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $73.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.61. General Dynamics Co. has a 1 year low of $247.36 and a 1 year high of $316.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.32 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $272.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $288.19.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.48 by ($0.13). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.59% and a net margin of 7.90%. The company had revenue of $11.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.65 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.04 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.81 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Investors of record on Friday, January 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.26%.

General Dynamics declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that authorizes the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other General Dynamics news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $1,556,241.40. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at $5,701,349.36. This represents a 21.44 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

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.