Argus Investors Counsel Inc. Increases Stake in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Argus Investors Counsel Inc. raised its stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 510.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 5,193 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,342 shares during the period. General Dynamics accounts for approximately 1.6% of Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Argus Investors Counsel Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $1,782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 118.3% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in General Dynamics by 35.0% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,917 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,136,525,000 after purchasing an additional 863,392 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of General Dynamics by 831.1% in the third quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 737,259 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $251,405,000 after buying an additional 658,081 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 528,769 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total value of $12,596,179.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 38,975 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,457,677.75. This trade represents a 48.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 78,190 shares of company stock worth $27,041,022 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Price Performance

General Dynamics stock opened at $373.34 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $344.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $348.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.50, a PEG ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. General Dynamics Corporation has a 52-week low of $292.34 and a 52-week high of $373.60.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.67 by $0.43. The firm had revenue of $13.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.70 billion. General Dynamics had a net margin of 8.07% and a return on equity of 17.41%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.66 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a $1.59 dividend. This represents a $6.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 40.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on GD. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $385.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $380.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of General Dynamics from $380.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $387.00 to $377.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane decreased their price target 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $388.40.

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.