Bank of Hawaii Acquires 422 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Bank of Hawaii lifted its stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,435 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 422 shares during the quarter. Bank of Hawaii’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,486,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GD. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in General Dynamics by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $6,265,813,000 after acquiring an additional 706,317 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in General Dynamics by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 5,688,672 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,496,939,000 after acquiring an additional 131,268 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in General Dynamics by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 2,428,644 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $639,923,000 after acquiring an additional 232,383 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,706,250 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $449,580,000 after purchasing an additional 59,944 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,577,075 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $415,543,000 after acquiring an additional 39,926 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Trading Up 7.0 %

Shares of GD opened at $272.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.95, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $258.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $274.17. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $239.20 and a twelve month high of $316.90.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.15 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.29 by ($0.14). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. On average, research analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 9th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.21%. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.42. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.99%.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 27,562 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $272.11, for a total value of $7,499,895.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 45,192 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $12,297,195.12. This trade represents a 37.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup decreased their target price on General Dynamics from $360.00 to $335.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 10th. Robert W. Baird reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $283.00 price objective (down from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $245.00 to $241.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. BTIG Research lowered General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $305.00 to $285.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, February 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $297.12.

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.