Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Has $543,000 Stake in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. lowered its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 27.6% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,871 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 713 shares during the quarter. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gladstone Capital Management LLP bought a new position in General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth about $3,869,000. SWP Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $227,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,107,000. Evercore Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in General Dynamics by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,355 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,391,000 after acquiring an additional 78 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Asset Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 7.2% during the fourth quarter. TD Asset Management Inc now owns 80,280 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $20,846,000 after acquiring an additional 5,405 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GD. Barclays lifted their price target on General Dynamics from $310.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $320.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $330.00 to $334.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “hold” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of General Dynamics from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $293.00 to $345.00 in a report on Friday, August 9th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $318.41.

Insider Activity

In other General Dynamics news, Director Peter A. Wall sold 1,320 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.05, for a total value of $406,626.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 3,592 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,106,515.60. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of GD stock opened at $300.13 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $296.08 and a 200 day simple moving average of $292.24. The company has a market cap of $82.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 0.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 1.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $214.53 and a twelve month high of $309.97.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.26 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.30 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $11.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.46 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.89% and a return on equity of 16.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 11th will be issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 11th. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.89%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.33%.

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.