Fifth Third Bancorp Boosts Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in General Dynamics by 36.2% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 311,761 shares valued at about $107 million.
• General Dynamics reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, posting $4.10 EPS versus estimates of $3.67 and revenue of $13.48 billion, up 10.3% year over year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.59 per share, implying an annualized payout of $6.36 and a 1.7% yield; meanwhile, analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy on average.

Fifth Third Bancorp increased its position in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 36.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 311,761 shares of the aerospace company's stock after buying an additional 82,912 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp owned 0.12% of General Dynamics worth $107,003,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position 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 valued at $567,372,000 after acquiring an additional 901,679 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in General Dynamics by 35.0% in the 3rd 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 period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 831.1% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 737,259 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $251,405,000 after purchasing an additional 658,081 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 6,680.8% in the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 591,488 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $199,130,000 after buying an additional 582,765 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $8,338,169,000 after buying an additional 528,769 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GD traded down $0.09 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $374.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,008,554 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,289,890. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $350.54 and a two-hundred day moving average of $349.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.38. General Dynamics Corporation has a 1-year low of $293.95 and a 1-year high of $380.71.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.66 earnings per share. General Dynamics's quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The business 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 $1.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $6.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.7%. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is 40.03%.

Insider Activity at General Dynamics

In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total value of $12,596,179.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,975 shares in the company, valued at $13,457,677.75. This represents a 48.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total value of $2,000,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,884,695. This represents a 33.99% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 78,190 shares of company stock valued at $27,041,022. Insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GD. Weiss Ratings raised shares of General Dynamics from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a "buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, June 13th. BNP Paribas Exane dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $430.00 to $390.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Citigroup cut their price objective on General Dynamics from $380.00 to $364.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Two equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $391.15.

About General Dynamics

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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