Vanguard Group Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. has reduced its stake in General Dynamics Corporation by 0.7%, selling 169,099 shares during the 1st quarter, and now owns approximately 8.80% of the company, valued at $6.4 billion.
• General Dynamics reported a strong quarterly earnings result with an EPS of $3.74, surpassing analysts' expectations, and a revenue of $13.04 billion, marking an 8.9% increase from the previous year.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.50, scheduled for payment on November 14th, representing an annualized dividend yield of 1.9%.

Vanguard Group Inc. cut its position in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 23,610,979 shares of the aerospace company's stock after selling 169,099 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 8.80% of General Dynamics worth $6,435,881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 34,578.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,244,600 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $339,253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,241,011 shares during the last quarter. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $279,582,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 7.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 6,734,148 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,774,381,000 after purchasing an additional 463,497 shares during the last quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 6,387.2% during the fourth quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 401,236 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $105,722,000 after purchasing an additional 395,051 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 24.3% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,290,344 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $339,856,000 after purchasing an additional 252,107 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Dynamics Price Performance

GD traded up $1.25 during trading on Friday, reaching $313.98. 1,157,284 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,263,103. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.36. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12-month low of $239.20 and a 12-month high of $322.50. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $294.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $275.46. The company has a market cap of $84.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.48.

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

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio is 40.27%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 43,860 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.28, for a total transaction of $13,696,600.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,875 shares of the company's stock, valued at $12,452,165. This represents a 52.38% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 7,639 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.44, for a total value of $2,142,281.16. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 769,607 shares in the company, valued at $215,828,587.08. This trade represents a 0.98% 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 ninety days. Corporate insiders own 1.50% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GD. Wolfe Research raised shares of General Dynamics from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $360.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $309.00 to $333.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. TD Securities upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $275.00 to $290.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein set a $314.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $315.78.

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.