Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 25,463 Shares of General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group increased its stake in General Dynamics by 9.0% in Q4, buying 25,463 shares and bringing its holdings to 306,928 shares (about 0.11%), valued at roughly $103.33 million.
• General Dynamics beat quarterly estimates with EPS of $4.10 vs. $3.67 and revenue of $13.48 billion (up 10.3% YoY), and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.59 (annualized $6.36, ~1.8% yield).
• Analyst sentiment is positive with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target of $388.70, while institutional ownership sits at 86.14% amid recent insider selling of about 51,260 shares (~$18.1M) over the past three months.

Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD - Free Report) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 306,928 shares of the aerospace company's stock after purchasing an additional 25,463 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of General Dynamics worth $103,330,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 118.3% in 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 buying an additional 901,679 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in General Dynamics by 35.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,917 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $1,136,525,000 after acquiring an additional 863,392 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.9% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,238,561 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $8,265,349,000 after acquiring an additional 677,665 shares in the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 831.1% during the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 737,259 shares of the aerospace company's stock worth $251,405,000 after purchasing an additional 658,081 shares during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 6,680.8% during the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 591,488 shares of the aerospace company's stock valued at $199,130,000 after purchasing an additional 582,765 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GD has been the subject of a number of research reports. Argus increased their target price on General Dynamics from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, January 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $400.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $389.00 to $380.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $388.70.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.5%

General Dynamics stock opened at $347.54 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $93.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $345.52 and a 200-day moving average of $346.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.90. General Dynamics Corporation has a one year low of $267.39 and a one year high of $369.70.

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

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th will be issued a $1.59 dividend. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, April 10th. This is a boost from General Dynamics's previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. General Dynamics's payout ratio is currently 40.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,918 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.09, for a total transaction of $11,655,934.62. Following the transaction, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 10,153 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $354.95, for a total transaction of $3,603,807.35. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,975 shares in the company, valued at $13,834,176.25. This trade represents a 20.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 51,260 shares of company stock valued at $18,133,971 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company's stock.

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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