Pacer Advisors Inc. Lowers Holdings in General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Pacer Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 835,606 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 35,446 shares during the quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $281,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its position in General Dynamics by 453.3% during the third quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 9,418 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $3,212,000 after purchasing an additional 7,716 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% in 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 last quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in General Dynamics by 114.7% in the 3rd quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,124 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $2,088,000 after acquiring an additional 3,271 shares in the last quarter. Jain Global LLC increased its holdings in General Dynamics by 97.8% during the 3rd quarter. Jain Global LLC now owns 169,305 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $57,733,000 after purchasing an additional 83,692 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its stake 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 valued at $35,273,000 after buying an additional 63,781 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on GD. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $385.00 price objective on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings cut shares of General Dynamics from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Citigroup dropped their target price on General Dynamics from $380.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 18th. BNP Paribas Exane reduced their price objective on General Dynamics from $430.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Argus increased their price target on shares of General Dynamics from $380.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $388.40.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of General Dynamics stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $345.29, for a total value 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. This trade represents a 48.35% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

General Dynamics Stock Down 3.4%

Shares of GD opened at $350.39 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $341.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $347.17. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12-month low of $275.49 and a 12-month high of $369.70. The firm has a market cap of $94.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.34.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.66 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.62 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $1.59 dividend. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 2nd. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 40.03%.

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.