Investors Purchase Large Volume of Call Options on General Dynamics (NYSE:GD)

General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) was the target of some unusual options trading on Wednesday. Stock investors bought 3,476 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 36% compared to the typical volume of 2,559 call options.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total value of $8,551,750.05. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares in the company, valued at $204,569,860.87. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 1.52% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Redmont Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. MeadowBrook Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the 1st quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 46.8% in the 1st quarter. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 113 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. StockNews.com raised General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 29th. Barclays lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $285.63.

General Dynamics Stock Up 1.4 %

GD opened at $284.97 on Friday. General Dynamics has a 1-year low of $202.35 and a 1-year high of $296.50. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $280.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $261.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market cap of $78.19 billion, a PE ratio of 23.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 0.68.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by ($0.01). General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.84% and a return on equity of 16.61%. The business 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 company posted $2.64 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that General Dynamics will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be paid a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. This is a boost from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 47.25%.

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.