Fifth Third Bancorp Grows Stock Position in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 36.2% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 311,761 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after buying an additional 82,912 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $107,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in General Dynamics by 2.2% during 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 in the last quarter. Jain Global LLC boosted its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 97.8% in the 3rd 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 period. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 155.6% during 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 stake in shares of General Dynamics during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,103,000. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,914,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE:GD traded down $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $374.51. 1,008,554 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,289,890. General Dynamics Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $293.95 and a fifty-two week high of $380.71. The company has a market capitalization of $101.28 billion, a PE ratio of 23.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.34. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $350.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $349.63.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.43. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.41% and a net margin of 8.07%.The company had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.66 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on General Dynamics from $400.00 to $440.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group raised General Dynamics from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on General Dynamics from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report 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 Saturday, June 13th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $391.15.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the director owned 10,643 shares in the company, valued at $3,884,695. This represents a 33.99% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total transaction of $12,596,179.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 38,975 shares in the company, valued at $13,457,677.75. The trade was a 48.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 78,190 shares of company stock valued at $27,041,022. 1.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.