Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP Cuts Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP cut its stake in shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 15.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,113 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 388 shares during the period. Cognios Beta Neutral Large Cap Fund LP’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $549,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GD. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 99.3% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 29,045 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $7,542,000 after acquiring an additional 14,468 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec bought a new stake in General Dynamics during the third quarter valued at about $16,077,000. Moreno Evelyn V grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 17.1% during the 3rd quarter. Moreno Evelyn V now owns 27,310 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,035,000 after acquiring an additional 3,991 shares during the period. Clough Capital Partners L P bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the third quarter worth approximately $26,868,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 57.7% during the 3rd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 326,121 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $72,063,000 after buying an additional 119,264 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on General Dynamics from $301.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on General Dynamics from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Alembic Global Advisors downgraded General Dynamics from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $296.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, January 29th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $283.80.

General Dynamics Stock Down 4.0 %

NYSE:GD traded down $11.57 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $281.15. 4,023,365 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,103,578. The stock has a market capitalization of $77.14 billion, a PE ratio of 22.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.68. General Dynamics Co. has a 12-month low of $202.35 and a 12-month high of $296.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.44. The business has a 50-day moving average of $280.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $261.08.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 24th. The aerospace company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.58 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 10th. Investors of record on Friday, April 12th will be given a $1.42 dividend. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.32. This represents a $5.68 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 11th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.25%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark C. Roualet sold 73,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $264.75, for a total value of $19,414,117.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 149,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $39,502,023.75. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,355 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 773,977 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $204,569,860.87. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 1.60% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.