General Dynamics Corporation $GD Position Lowered by Capital Research Global Investors

Capital Research Global Investors decreased its stake in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 17.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 5,694,127 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 1,168,249 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors’ holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,916,994,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GD. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 118.3% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $567,372,000 after purchasing an additional 901,679 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 35.0% during the third 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 last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 2.9% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,238,561 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,265,349,000 after purchasing an additional 677,665 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. lifted 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 last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of General Dynamics by 6,680.8% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 591,488 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $199,130,000 after purchasing an additional 582,765 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on GD. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price target 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of General Dynamics from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 23rd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $387.00 to $377.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of General Dynamics in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $400.00 target price on the stock. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $385.00 to $371.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $387.40.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE GD opened at $346.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $340.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $346.31. General Dynamics Corporation has a 52-week low of $268.10 and a 52-week high of $369.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 0.34.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.43. The firm had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.70 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 17.41%. General Dynamics’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.66 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.62 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a dividend of $1.59 per share. This represents a $6.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 40.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 3,819 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $353.50, for a total transaction of $1,350,016.50. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 44,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,825,134.50. The trade was a 7.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,918 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.09, for a total value of $11,655,934.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 766,457 shares in the company, valued at approximately $271,394,759.13. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 119,600 shares of company stock valued at $41,650,580. 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.