Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Grows Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 2.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 82,142 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,899 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $28,147,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in General Dynamics by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,338,169,000 after purchasing an additional 528,769 shares during the period. Jain Global LLC raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 97.8% during the third quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 169,305 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $57,733,000 after buying an additional 83,692 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 155.6% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 104,773 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $35,273,000 after buying an additional 63,781 shares in the last quarter. Financial Planning Hawaii Inc. purchased a new position in shares of General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth $1,103,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth $7,914,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on GD shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target 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. Weiss Ratings raised shares of General Dynamics from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 1st. Citigroup reduced their target price on General Dynamics from $380.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, May 18th. UBS Group upgraded General Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on General Dynamics from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.15.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:GD opened at $374.15 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $101.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.55, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.34. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12 month low of $293.95 and a 12 month high of $380.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $349.81 and a 200 day moving average price of $349.46.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.70 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 8.07%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.66 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.64 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a $1.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.7%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.03%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total transaction of $12,596,179.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 38,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,457,677.75. The trade was a 48.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,200.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 10,643 shares in the company, valued at $3,884,695. The trade was a 33.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 78,190 shares of company stock valued at $27,041,022 in the last 90 days. Company 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.