Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Decreases Stock Position in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec cut its holdings in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 53.6% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 99,192 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 114,460 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $27,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GD. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in General Dynamics by 16.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 2,885 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $266,000. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC raised its stake in General Dynamics by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 6,039 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,591,000 after buying an additional 420 shares during the last quarter. Bellwether Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in General Dynamics in the fourth quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Optiver Holding B.V. raised its stake in General Dynamics by 289.0% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 922 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $243,000 after buying an additional 685 shares during the last quarter. 86.14% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

General Dynamics Stock Up 0.7%

General Dynamics stock opened at $322.19 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.67 billion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 0.48. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12 month low of $239.20 and a 12 month high of $322.85. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $304.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $280.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The aerospace company reported $3.74 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.47 by $0.27. The business had revenue of $13.04 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.13 billion. General Dynamics had a return on equity of 17.99% and a net margin of 8.13%.The business’s revenue was up 8.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.26 earnings per share. General Dynamics has set its FY 2025 guidance at 15.050-15.150 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that General Dynamics Corporation will post 14.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 10th will be paid a $1.50 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 10th. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. General Dynamics’s payout ratio is currently 40.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on GD. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on General Dynamics from $283.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on General Dynamics from $284.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Barclays raised their price objective on General Dynamics from $285.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Argus set a $295.00 price objective on General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, May 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $298.00 to $342.00 in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $315.78.

Insider Transactions at General Dynamics

In other news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 43,860 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.28, for a total value of $13,696,600.80. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,875 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $12,452,165. The trade was a 52.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 129,090 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.57, for a total value of $40,478,751.30. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 769,607 shares in the company, valued at $241,325,666.99. This represents a 14.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 450,110 shares of company stock valued at $135,507,928. Insiders own 1.50% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Company Profile

General Dynamics Corporation operates as an aerospace and defense company worldwide. It operates through four segments: Aerospace, Marine Systems, Combat Systems, and Technologies. The Aerospace segment produces and sells business jets; and offers aircraft maintenance and repair, management, aircraft-on-ground support and completion, charter, staffing, and fixed-base operator services.