Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Acquires 1,899 Shares of General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 2.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 82,142 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,899 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $28,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GD. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 528,769 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in General Dynamics by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 11,323,170 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,812,058,000 after buying an additional 294,456 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in General Dynamics by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,065,462 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,039,742,000 after acquiring an additional 195,604 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,307,389 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,786,786,000 after acquiring an additional 114,647 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 5.4% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,627,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,236,900,000 after acquiring an additional 187,435 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Dynamics Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of GD stock opened at $374.15 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12-month low of $293.95 and a 12-month high of $380.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.34. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $349.81 and its 200 day moving average is $349.46.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.67 by $0.43. The business had revenue of $13.48 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.66 EPS. Research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be issued a $1.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $6.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is currently 40.03%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $327.00 to $313.00 and set a “sell” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 4th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $400.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, General Dynamics presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.15.

Insider Activity

In other General Dynamics news, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $365.00, for a total transaction of $2,000,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 10,643 shares in the company, valued at $3,884,695. The trade was a 33.99% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president directly owned 38,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,457,677.75. The trade was a 48.35% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 78,190 shares of company stock worth $27,041,022 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

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.