Rakuten Securities Inc. Makes New Investment in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Rakuten Securities Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock, valued at approximately $38,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Certified Advisory Corp acquired a new position in General Dynamics during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the third quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 411.5% in the third quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 133 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Live Oak Investment Partners acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. StockNews.com downgraded General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 3rd. Citigroup upped their target price on General Dynamics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. UBS Group upped their target price on General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Susquehanna boosted their price target on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a 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 $283.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $264.31, for a total transaction 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total transaction of $19,414,117.50. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,502,023.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 1.52% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE GD opened at $285.27 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $278.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $259.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 0.92. General Dynamics Co. has a fifty-two week low of $202.35 and a fifty-two week high of $296.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.27 billion, a PE ratio of 23.73, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.68.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.68 by ($0.04). General Dynamics had a return on equity of 16.61% and a net margin of 7.84%. The business had revenue of $11.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.58 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

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