Archford Capital Strategies LLC Increases Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Archford Capital Strategies LLC grew its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,599 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 173 shares during the period. Archford Capital Strategies LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. now owns 9,683 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,551,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 100.0% in the 4th quarter. Duncan Williams Asset Management LLC now owns 1,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $422,000 after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Smith Chas P & Associates PA Cpas now owns 118,353 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $31,185,000 after acquiring an additional 1,545 shares during the last quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 90.0% in the 4th quarter. Olstein Capital Management L.P. now owns 28,500 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $7,509,000 after acquiring an additional 13,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 96.1% during the 4th quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 1,739 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $458,000 after buying an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of General Dynamics stock opened at $266.22 on Friday. General Dynamics Co. has a 1 year low of $257.26 and a 1 year high of $316.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 1.32. The company has a market capitalization of $73.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.28, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 0.61. The company’s fifty day moving average is $269.27 and its two-hundred day moving average is $287.64.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.35 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.65 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.04 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.66 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be paid a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that allows the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization allows the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GD shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $283.00 to $245.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Baird R W lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $330.00 to $305.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 6th. Vertical Research lowered shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $352.00 to $290.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.88.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In related news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total value of $1,556,241.40. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 20,296 shares in the company, valued at $5,701,349.36. This trade represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 1.52% 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.