General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) EVP Sells $12,444,642.70 in Stock

General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,230 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, May 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $343.49, for a total transaction of $12,444,642.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 38,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,387,522.75. This represents a 48.17% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Mark Lagrand Burns also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, May 12th, Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of General Dynamics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total transaction of $12,596,179.20.
• On Wednesday, March 11th, Mark Lagrand Burns sold 10,153 shares of General Dynamics stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.95, for a total transaction of $3,603,807.35.

General Dynamics Price Performance

NYSE:GD opened at $334.29 on Friday. General Dynamics Corporation has a one year low of $268.10 and a one year high of $369.70. The company has a market cap of $90.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.34. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $343.59 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $346.67. 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 (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.43. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The firm had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.66 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.62 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GD has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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 target price for the company. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $430.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Argus boosted their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Bank of America reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $388.20.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On General Dynamics

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in General Dynamics by 2.2% during the fourth 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. State Street Corp lifted its position 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 worth $3,812,058,000 after purchasing an additional 294,456 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in General Dynamics by 3.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 195,604 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in General Dynamics by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 5,307,389 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,786,786,000 after purchasing an additional 114,647 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in General Dynamics by 5.4% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,627,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,236,900,000 after purchasing an additional 187,435 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Company 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.