Orion Capital Management LLC Acquires 155 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Orion Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 67.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 386 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Orion Capital Management LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $100,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 0.6% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 22,423,961 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $4,955,023,000 after purchasing an additional 133,061 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 12.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 16,360,526 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,615,185,000 after purchasing an additional 1,755,276 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 4,017,057 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $887,649,000 after purchasing an additional 17,061 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 13.7% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,293,269 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $506,744,000 after purchasing an additional 275,947 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 4.5% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,258,362 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $499,030,000 after purchasing an additional 97,789 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total value of $14,182,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $218,773,956.50. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Gregory S. Gallopoulos sold 13,567 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.51, for a total value of $3,914,215.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 103,345 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $29,816,065.95. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 49,850 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.50, for a total value of $14,182,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 768,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,773,956.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped their target price on General Dynamics from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Alembic Global Advisors lowered General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, January 29th. UBS Group boosted their price target on General Dynamics from $286.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $297.06.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GD remained flat at $287.09 during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company had a trading volume of 484,826 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,112,499. The company has a current ratio of 1.44, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $202.35 and a 12 month high of $296.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.42, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.68. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $281.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $262.72.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 24th. The aerospace company reported $2.88 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.89 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $10.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 16.48%. The company’s revenue was up 8.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.64 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.55 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a dividend of $1.42 per share. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.33%.

General Dynamics 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.