Trajan Wealth LLC Grows Position in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Trajan Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 44,386 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 3,015 shares during the quarter. Trajan Wealth LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $14,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in General Dynamics by 118.3% during the 3rd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $567,372,000 after buying an additional 901,679 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in General Dynamics by 35.0% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,917 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,136,525,000 after buying an additional 863,392 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in General Dynamics by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,238,561 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $8,265,349,000 after buying an additional 677,665 shares during the last quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in General Dynamics by 831.1% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 737,259 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $251,405,000 after buying an additional 658,081 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC grew its stake in 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 worth $199,130,000 after buying an additional 582,765 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GD has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on General Dynamics in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $400.00 price target on the stock. Argus raised their price target on General Dynamics from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on General Dynamics from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on General Dynamics from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $387.40.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,918 shares of the firm’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 value of $11,655,934.62. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 766,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $271,394,759.13. This trade represents a 4.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 3,819 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.50, for a total value of $1,350,016.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 44,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,825,134.50. This represents a 7.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 119,600 shares of company stock valued at $41,650,580 in the last three months. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.2%

GD opened at $339.54 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24, a current ratio of 1.38 and a quick ratio of 0.90. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $342.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $346.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.34. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12 month low of $268.10 and a 12 month high of $369.70.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $13.48 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the firm earned $3.66 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a $1.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. This is an increase from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is 40.03%.

About General Dynamics

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.