Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC Cuts Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC cut its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 12,398 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 467 shares during the period. Beaumont Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $3,267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in General Dynamics by 241.7% during the third quarter. MFA Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 82 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. Hara Capital LLC acquired a new position in General Dynamics in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of General Dynamics during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Lowe Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $295.00 to $279.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, January 8th. TD Cowen upgraded General Dynamics to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Sanford C. Bernstein reduced their target price on General Dynamics from $343.00 to $331.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $354.00 to $360.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective 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. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $304.88.

General Dynamics Stock Up 1.7 %

General Dynamics stock opened at $271.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.61. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $271.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $288.09. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $247.88 and a twelve month high of $316.90. The company has a current ratio of 1.32, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released 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 firm had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.65 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.04 earnings per share. General Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 13.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 17th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.26%.

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to buyback 10,000,000 shares. This buyback authorization permits the aerospace company to buy shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Christopher J. Brady sold 5,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.91, for a total transaction 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 represents a 21.44 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 1.60% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.