First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Purchases 1,325 Shares of General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its position in General Dynamics Co. (NYSE:GD) by 20.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,798 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,325 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,203,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GD. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 8.3% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 1,328,320 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $294,105,000 after buying an additional 101,604 shares during the last quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 42.0% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 12,418 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,744,000 after purchasing an additional 3,670 shares during the last quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 3.7% in the third quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 1,513 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $334,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 3.2% in the third quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 170,546 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $37,686,000 after purchasing an additional 5,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 7.2% in the third quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 263,635 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $58,255,000 after purchasing an additional 17,797 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on General Dynamics from $291.00 to $322.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $253.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. BTIG Research initiated coverage on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $345.00 price objective for the company. Argus raised their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $305.00 to $335.00 in a report on Monday, April 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Kimberly A. Kuryea sold 13,344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.16, for a total transaction of $3,978,647.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 79,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,630,670.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Kimberly A. Kuryea sold 13,344 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.16, for a total transaction of $3,978,647.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 79,255 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,630,670.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 12,089 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.59, for a total transaction of $3,585,476.51. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 64,132 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,020,909.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 118,486 shares of company stock valued at $34,391,642. Company insiders own 1.60% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of GD opened at $284.88 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $78.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $294.14 and a 200 day moving average of $278.64. General Dynamics Co. has a twelve month low of $211.94 and a twelve month high of $302.75.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 the consensus estimate of $10.26 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 7.85% and a return on equity of 16.48%. General Dynamics’s revenue was up 8.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.64 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Co. will post 14.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 9th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 5th will be given a $1.42 dividend. This represents a $5.68 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 5th. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.33%.

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.