Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension Grows Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Key Points

• Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension increased its General Dynamics stake by 5.2% in the first quarter, adding 3,598 shares to reach 73,179 shares valued at about $25.1 million.
• Insiders have been selling shares: EVP Mark Lagrand Burns and Director Mark Malcolm both reduced their holdings, and insiders sold a combined 78,190 shares worth about $27.0 million over the last three months.
• General Dynamics beat earnings expectations last quarter, reporting $4.10 EPS on $13.48 billion in revenue, while analysts currently hold a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $391.15.

Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 5.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 73,179 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 3,598 shares during the quarter. Arbejdsmarkedets Tillaegspension's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $25,116,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 118.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,847 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $567,372,000 after acquiring an additional 901,679 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in General Dynamics by 35.0% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,917 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $1,136,525,000 after purchasing an additional 863,392 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in General Dynamics by 831.1% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 737,259 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $251,405,000 after purchasing an additional 658,081 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 6,680.8% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 591,488 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $199,130,000 after purchasing an additional 582,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $8,338,169,000 after purchasing an additional 528,769 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total transaction of $12,596,179.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 38,975 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,457,677.75. The trade was a 48.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,884,695. The trade was a 33.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 78,190 shares of company stock worth $27,041,022 in the last three months. Company insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GD has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $327.00 to $313.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on General Dynamics from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on General Dynamics from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Wall Street Zen raised General Dynamics from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on General Dynamics from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, General Dynamics presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $391.15.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.1%

General Dynamics stock opened at $374.51 on Monday. General Dynamics Corporation has a 52 week low of $293.95 and a 52 week high of $380.71. The stock has a market cap of $101.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.57, a PEG ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.34. The company's 50-day moving average price is $350.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $349.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.43. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The business had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.66 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be given a dividend of $1.59 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.03%.

General Dynamics Company Profile

General Dynamics is a major American aerospace and defense contractor that designs, manufactures and supports a broad range of products and services for government and commercial customers worldwide. Headquartered in the United States (Reston, Virginia), the company supplies platforms and systems used by armed forces, civil authorities and private operators across multiple domains including air, land, sea and cyber.

Its principal activities span several operating businesses: a business aviation unit that develops and supports Gulfstream business jets; land systems that produce armored combat vehicles and related logistics and sustainment services; marine systems that design and construct submarines and surface ships for navies; and mission systems and information technology operations that provide command-and-control, communications, cybersecurity and systems-integration services.

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