Bessemer Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Bessemer Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 43.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,313 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 6,286 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $2,266,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Hickory Point Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the 4th quarter valued at $692,000. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 45.4% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 80,565 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $21,228,000 after acquiring an additional 25,144 shares during the period. Renasant Bank increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. Renasant Bank now owns 3,258 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,038 shares during the period. Advisory Resource Group increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 19,200 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $5,234,000 after acquiring an additional 1,276 shares during the period. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its stake in General Dynamics by 990.0% in the 4th quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 66,557 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $17,537,000 after buying an additional 60,451 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on GD. Susquehanna boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $300.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a "positive" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $268.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $305.00 to $300.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $335.00 to $330.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, TD Cowen boosted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $290.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $290.24.

General Dynamics Price Performance

General Dynamics stock opened at $290.83 on Friday. General Dynamics Corporation has a 52 week low of $239.20 and a 52 week high of $316.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.82, a current ratio of 1.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $276.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $267.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $78.06 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.46.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.43 by $0.23. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.08% and a return on equity of 17.82%. The business had revenue of $12.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.92 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.88 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 13.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd will be issued a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 3rd. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.06%. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.61%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 178,821 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 769,607 shares in the company, valued at approximately $217,898,829.91. This represents a 18.85% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 1.50% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About General Dynamics

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.

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