Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Buys 1,320 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 40.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,591 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 1,320 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GD. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 1.1% in the first quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 3,299 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $932,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Copperwynd Financial LLC grew its position in General Dynamics by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Copperwynd Financial LLC now owns 1,056 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC grew its position in General Dynamics by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Woodward Diversified Capital LLC now owns 1,727 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. grew its position in General Dynamics by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 287 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $75,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in General Dynamics by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Regent Peak Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,830 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,812,000 after buying an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GD shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Friday, April 12th. Argus lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $290.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on General Dynamics from $325.00 to $320.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $303.24.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of GD opened at $290.14 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $294.27 and its 200-day simple moving average is $278.06. General Dynamics Co. has a one year low of $210.65 and a one year high of $302.75. The company has a market capitalization of $79.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.67, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 0.64.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.89 by ($0.01). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.48% and a net margin of 7.85%. The company had revenue of $10.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.96%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 5th. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 46.33%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total transaction of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 103,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,816,065.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total value of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 103,345 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,816,065.95. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total transaction of $14,182,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 768,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,773,956.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 118,486 shares of company stock worth $34,391,642. Insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

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.