FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Raises Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH increased its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 3.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,666 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GD. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 34,578.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,244,600 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $339,253,000 after buying an additional 1,241,011 shares during the period. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $279,582,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in General Dynamics during the 4th quarter valued at $197,238,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in General Dynamics by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 23,780,078 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $6,265,813,000 after purchasing an additional 706,317 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in General Dynamics by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,774,381,000 after purchasing an additional 463,497 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Dynamics Price Performance

NYSE GD opened at $282.95 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $75.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.74, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. General Dynamics Co. has a 12 month low of $239.20 and a 12 month high of $316.90. The company’s 50 day moving average is $274.62 and its two-hundred day moving average is $266.41.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.43 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $12.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.92 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.93% and a return on equity of 17.10%. General Dynamics’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.83 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.61%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on GD shares. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $335.00 to $330.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $268.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $300.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $261.00 to $236.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $293.00.

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.