Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Stake in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management increased its stake in General Dynamics by 4.9% in Q4 to 534,933 shares (about 0.20% of the company), valued at roughly $183.7 million.
• Earnings beat: General Dynamics reported Q EPS of $4.10 vs. $3.67 expected and revenue of $13.48 billion (up 10.3% year‑over‑year).
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.59 (annualized $6.36, ~1.8% yield), while insiders have sold shares recently — including CEO Phebe Novakovic — totaling 51,260 shares (~$18.1M) over the past three months.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 534,933 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,187 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.20% of General Dynamics worth $183,696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GD. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its position in General Dynamics by 453.3% during the 3rd quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 9,418 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $3,212,000 after buying an additional 7,716 shares during the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. lifted its position in General Dynamics by 703.4% during the third quarter. Rockland Trust Co. now owns 10,548 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $3,597,000 after purchasing an additional 9,235 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 3.6% in the third quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 917,424 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $312,842,000 after purchasing an additional 32,262 shares during the last quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in General Dynamics by 73.5% during the 3rd quarter. Gold Investment Management Ltd. now owns 10,700 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $3,649,000 after purchasing an additional 4,532 shares during the period. 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 valued at $8,338,169,000 after buying an additional 528,769 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GD has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a "market perform" rating and set a $398.00 price target on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Monday, January 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price target on General Dynamics from $327.00 to $313.00 and set a "sell" rating for the company in a report on Monday. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $389.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $385.00 to $380.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $388.70.

General Dynamics Price Performance

Shares of NYSE GD opened at $347.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a current ratio of 1.38. The firm has a market cap of $93.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.87, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.34. General Dynamics Corporation has a one year low of $267.39 and a one year high of $369.70. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $345.52 and a 200 day moving average of $346.57.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.70 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.66 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be paid a dividend of $1.59 per share. This is an increase from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. The ex-dividend date is Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. General Dynamics's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 40.03%.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,918 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.09, for a total transaction of $11,655,934.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 766,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $271,394,759.13. The trade was a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Mark Rayha sold 4,370 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $348.79, for a total value of $1,524,212.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 7,936 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,767,997.44. This represents a 35.51% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 51,260 shares of company stock worth $18,133,971 over the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

General Dynamics 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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