Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. Cuts Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C. reduced its stake in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 35.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,695 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 2,073 shares during the period. Beaumont Asset Management L.L.C.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in General Dynamics by 118.3% in the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $567,372,000 after purchasing an additional 901,679 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in General Dynamics by 35.0% in 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 period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 831.1% in 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. SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 6,680.8% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 591,488 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $199,130,000 after buying an additional 582,765 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $8,338,169,000 after acquiring an additional 528,769 shares in the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Dynamics Stock Performance

GD stock opened at $346.30 on Friday. 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 Corporation has a 1 year low of $288.62 and a 1 year high of $369.70. The company has a market cap of $93.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.14 and a beta of 0.34. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $341.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $347.50.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last announced its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.66 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.63 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is presently 40.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at General Dynamics

In related news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 38,975 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,457,677.75. The trade was a 48.35% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director directly owned 10,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,884,695. This represents a 33.99% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 78,190 shares of company stock valued at $27,041,022 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently weighed in on GD. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, June 13th. BNP Paribas Exane cut their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $430.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered General Dynamics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $388.40.

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.