Argent Trust Co Has $4.81 Million Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Key Points

• Argent Trust Co increased its stake in General Dynamics Corporation by 8.3%, owning 17,634 shares worth approximately $4.81 million as per its latest SEC filing.
• General Dynamics reported a quarterly EPS of $3.74, exceeding analyst expectations and showing an 8.9% increase in revenue compared to the same period last year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, reflecting an annualized dividend total of $6.00 and a yield of 1.9%.

Argent Trust Co lifted its stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 8.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,634 shares of the aerospace company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,349 shares during the quarter. Argent Trust Co's holdings in General Dynamics were worth $4,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rialto Wealth Management LLC grew its position in General Dynamics by 213.8% during the first quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 91 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 62 shares during the period. Inlight Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Copia Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

General Dynamics Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of GD traded up $2.47 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $316.23. The stock had a trading volume of 246,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,474,223. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83. General Dynamics Corporation has a 52-week low of $239.20 and a 52-week high of $322.50. The business's fifty day moving average is $292.49 and its 200 day moving average is $274.57. The firm has a market cap of $85.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.23, a P/E/G ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.48.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.74 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.27. The firm had revenue of $13.04 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.13 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.13% and a return on equity of 17.99%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be paid a $1.50 dividend. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 3rd. General Dynamics's payout ratio is currently 40.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GD shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $360.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $325.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Wednesday, June 25th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $309.00 to $333.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $314.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $315.78.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 43,860 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.28, for a total value of $13,696,600.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 39,875 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,452,165. This represents a 52.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 178,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.13, for a total value of $50,629,589.73. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 769,607 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $217,898,829.91. This represents a 18.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 268,370 shares of company stock valued at $78,408,011 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

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.