MQS Management LLC Sells 2,402 Shares of General Dynamics Corporation $GD

MQS Management LLC lessened its stake in General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GD) by 66.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,228 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after selling 2,402 shares during the quarter. MQS Management LLC’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in General Dynamics by 118.3% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 1,663,847 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $567,372,000 after acquiring an additional 901,679 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in shares of General Dynamics by 35.0% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,332,917 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $1,136,525,000 after acquiring an additional 863,392 shares during the period. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of General Dynamics by 831.1% during the 3rd quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 737,259 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $251,405,000 after purchasing 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 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 591,488 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $199,130,000 after purchasing an additional 582,765 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of General Dynamics by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,767,330 shares of the aerospace company’s stock valued at $8,338,169,000 after purchasing an additional 528,769 shares during the period. 86.14% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on GD shares. Citigroup reduced their price target on General Dynamics from $380.00 to $364.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on General Dynamics from $384.00 to $375.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $385.00 target price on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised General Dynamics from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $380.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane dropped their price target on 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 analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $388.40.

Insider Activity

In other General Dynamics news, EVP Mark Lagrand Burns sold 36,480 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. The trade was a 48.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Mark Malcolm sold 5,480 shares of the firm’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. This represents a 33.99% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 78,190 shares of company stock worth $27,041,022 over the last 90 days. 1.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

General Dynamics Price Performance

General Dynamics stock opened at $363.11 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $98.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.85, a PEG ratio of 2.19 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. General Dynamics Corporation has a 12 month low of $290.30 and a 12 month high of $369.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $342.97 and its 200-day moving average is $347.92.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GD) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The aerospace company reported $4.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.66 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.63 EPS for the current year.

General Dynamics Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 7th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 2nd will be paid a $1.59 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 2nd. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is 40.03%.

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.