Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. Trims Position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,344 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 61 shares during the quarter. Argonautica Private Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,726,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 37.2% in the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 17,629 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $5,291,000 after acquiring an additional 4,779 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 10.3% in the 3rd quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 1,708 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 160 shares in the last quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC increased its position in General Dynamics by 13.8% during the 3rd quarter. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC now owns 3,430 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,037,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 336.5% in the 3rd quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC now owns 22,058 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,735,000 after buying an additional 17,005 shares during the period. Finally, Pallas Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of General Dynamics in the third quarter valued at approximately $355,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Laura J. Schumacher sold 1,796 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $255.68, for a total transaction of $459,201.28. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 11,175 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,857,224. The trade was a 13.85 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GD has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $337.00 to $281.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 28th. William Blair downgraded shares of General Dynamics from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Vertical Research cut shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $352.00 to $290.00 in a report on Monday, January 6th. Robert W. Baird reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $283.00 price target (down previously from $345.00) on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $279.00 to $276.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $298.59.

General Dynamics Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of GD opened at $249.83 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $67.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.61. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $258.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $281.88. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $239.87 and a twelve month high of $316.90.

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

General Dynamics declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, December 4th that permits the company to repurchase 10,000,000 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the aerospace company to repurchase shares of its stock through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 17th were issued a dividend of $1.42 per share. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 17th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.64%.

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.