Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Buys 44,228 Shares of General Dynamics Corporation $GD

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its stake in shares of General Dynamics Corporation (NYSE:GDFree Report) by 108.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 85,165 shares of the aerospace company’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,228 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in General Dynamics were worth $28,672,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GD. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position 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 worth $8,338,169,000 after acquiring an additional 528,769 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 3,627,155 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $1,236,900,000 after acquiring an additional 187,435 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised 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 worth $1,136,525,000 after acquiring an additional 863,392 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of General Dynamics by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 1,770,714 shares of the aerospace company’s stock worth $603,813,000 after acquiring an additional 58,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 worth $567,372,000 after acquiring an additional 901,679 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 86.14% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other General Dynamics news, EVP Marguerite Amy Gilliland sold 3,819 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $353.50, for a total transaction of $1,350,016.50. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 44,767 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,825,134.50. This represents a 7.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Phebe N. Novakovic sold 32,918 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $354.09, for a total transaction of $11,655,934.62. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 766,457 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $271,394,759.13. This represents a 4.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 119,600 shares of company stock valued at $41,650,580 over the last three months. Insiders own 1.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GD has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen raised General Dynamics from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Sunday, May 10th. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. They set an “overweight” rating and a $400.00 price objective on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft dropped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $387.00 to $377.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on shares of General Dynamics from $327.00 to $313.00 and set a “sell” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of General Dynamics in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $387.40.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on GD

General Dynamics Stock Up 2.6%

GD opened at $343.25 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 1.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $343.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $346.60. General Dynamics Corporation has a twelve month low of $268.10 and a twelve month high of $369.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.60, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.34.

General Dynamics (NYSE:GDGet Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $12.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.66 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that General Dynamics Corporation will post 16.62 earnings per share for the current year.

General Dynamics Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 8th. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 10th were issued a dividend of $1.59 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 10th. This is a positive change from General Dynamics’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. This represents a $6.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. General Dynamics’s dividend payout ratio is presently 40.03%.

General Dynamics Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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Institutional Ownership by Quarter for General Dynamics (NYSE:GD)

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